The Sarajevo Clock Tower (Bosnian: Sarajevska sahat-kula) is a clock tower in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located beside Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque and is the tallest of the 21 clock towers erected throughout the country, reaching a height of 30 meters. The tower was declared a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2006.
The clock shows lunar time, in which the hands indicate 12 o'clock at the moment of sunset, the time of the Muslim Maghrib prayer.[1] A caretaker sets the clock's time manually once a week.[2][3]
The Sarajevo Clock Tower was constructed by Gazi Husrev-beg, a governor of the area during the Ottoman period.[4] The earliest known documented mention of the tower dates to the 17th century in a work by Evliya Çelebi. It was rebuilt twice, once after fire damage when the city was attacked by Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1697, and again in 1762.[5]
In 1874, the clock was replaced by a mechanism made by Gillett & Bland of London. The previous Turkish mechanism was moved to a mosque in the neighbourhood of Vratnik.[citation needed]
In 1967, the clock was repaired, and the hands and numbers on all four clock faces were gilt.[citation needed]
In 2006, the clock tower was declared a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[6]
