Bab al-Faraj Clock Tower

This is where Aleppo meets, and a clock tower stands in the middle of it. The first stone was laid in 1898 under Raif Pasha, governor of the city, and the work was done a year later. It cost 1500 Ottoman gold lira. Half was raised by public donation and half came out of the municipal fund.

Getting there

The square is the centre of town. Walk north-west out of the old city and you come out here. The tower stands in the middle of it, directly opposite the National Library.

What to see

The tower is 28 metres high and four-sided. From a distance it reads as a minaret; the difference is its wide base. Rows of muqarnas sit under the balcony — Mamluk stonework put back to use at the end of the Ottoman era. Each face carries a dial. At the top there is a device that shows the wind direction, easily missed from below.

How it stands today

The tower was damaged during the war and has been repaired. After more than half a century of silence the clock runs again, fitted with an English-made mechanical movement. The repair works turned up older remains around the base, among them the Roman-era Hailan water channel that passes beside it.

Do not miss

The four dials did not show the same time. One opposite pair was set to Arabic hours and the other to Western hours, and everyone crossing the square read the one they counted by. As for the Bab al-Faraj gate that gave the tower its name, it was pulled down in 1904; its southern tower is what remained.