Clock tower in Mecca facts and figures
Clock tower in Mecca facts and figures
The clock tower in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, which overlooks the Sacred House of God, is one of the most prominent landmarks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since its opening. How does it reflect the civilized and technical aspects advanced in Saudi Arabia? The clock can be seen from all districts of Makkah from more than eight kilometers away, and certainly the clock is set. In the clock tower based on the local time of Mecca.
The clock tower was built on the ruins of the ancient Ajyad Castle, which was demolished to make way for the construction of the tower. It is located above the Abraj Al-Bait complex, Makkah clock is the largest tower clock in the world due to the diameter of its façade that is more than 40 meters and its height is more than 400 meters from the ground level and the total weight of the Mecca hour is 36,000 tons, and therefore the clock tower is the largest building in terms of floor area It covers a huge area of 1,500,000 square kilometers which makes it one of the ten tallest skyscrapers in the world.
It is believed that the cost of the entire Clock Tower project in Makkah is $ 3 billion, which includes 6 other buildings that include the most luxurious hotels and apartments.
The architectural design of the clock tower consists of four fronts, the size of the front and back faces is 43 meters, while the volume of the two side faces is about 43 meters by 39 meters, and the largest sentence of magnification (God is great) can be seen in the world above the hour, where the length of the letter of a thousand in the word Majesty God is more than 23 meters high and there is a crescent at the height of the tower and the diameter of the crescent is at 23 meters
The decorative facade of the watch is covered with 98 million pieces of stained glass mosaic, while the minute hand is 22 meters long and the clockwise length is 17 meters. Each hand weighs 6 tons made of carbon fiber. Also the face of the watch is white and the indicators are black during the day, and green at night, the crescent is made of gold mosaic backed by fiberglass. The top 200 meters of the clock tower is covered with fiber-reinforced plastic panels.
The total height of the Makkah Al-Mukarramah Clock Tower is 601 meters, while the height of the watch from its base reaches the highest point at the crest of the Crescent, 251 meters.
16 special vertical light beams are lit up to more than 10 kilometers towards the sky and each light beam power is 10 kilowatts in Islamic occasions such as entering the Hijri months, feasts, Ramadan and Tarawih prayers, where two million LED lights are used in the lighting system for an hour Mecca at night
The ears of the Sacred Mosque are heard directly in the vicinity of the mosque from the top of the clock tower via huge loudspeakers, from a distance of approximately 7 kilometers. At the top of the great clock tower there is an observation deck, an Islamic museum, a moon investigation center, and a chapel with a capacity of 10,000 people.
The Royal Clock Tower complex in Makkah, also known as Abraj Al Bait, located near the Al Haram Mosque in Makkah Al Mukarramah is a mixed residential and hotel complex. Construction started in 2004 and finished in 2012.
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The structure of the building extends over seven towers erected over the platform. Land, the mega construction project was developed as part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment Project, which aims to modernize the city to provide world-class accommodations for an increasing number of visitors and residents in the holy city of Mecca.
The Saudi Bin Laden Group is a developer of the Royal Makkah Tower Project around the clock. The architectural design contract for the complex was awarded to the Engineering House in 2001.
The seven towers of the building are located on a 15-story platform and a height of 115 meters, which is the clock tower – Hajar, Zamzam, Maqam, Qibla, Marwa – located on both sides of the clock tower and the height of the accompanying towers ranges between 200 and 300 meters, while the number of floors ranges between 42 and 48.
Facilities in the Royal Clock Tower complex in Makkah:
The Clock Tower complex in Makkah Al Mukarramah includes residential towers for permanent residents, and is a five-star hotel managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts to accommodate pilgrims, and the Abraj Al Bait Shopping Center. The building provides a parking space for more than 1,000 cars.
Architectural companies contributing to the construction of the clock tower in Mecca:
- Structural engineering services for the building complex were provided by the engineering house, the top of the clock tower (from a height of 450 meters to the top) was designed by the German architectural firm SL Rasch.
- Interfaces to the top of the tower and clamping of the watch were performed by Premier Composites Technologies (PCT) in Dubai, UAE. Gurit supplied composite materials used for the top facade of the tower.
- The huge clock fitted on top of the building was provided by the German tower clock manufacturer
