The museum, situated next to Tirana’s Clock Tower in the city centre, will have on display designs and photos of clock towers in Albanian cities during the 16th and 17th centuries when Albania was under the Ottoman rule
TIRANA, July 6 – The history of Albanian clock towers will soon be displayed in the first museum of monumental clocks which is being established in the Tirana. The museum, situated next to Tirana’s Clock Tower in the city centre, in the place known as the “the clockmakers’ shop” will have on display designs and photos of clock towers in Albanian cities during the 16th and 17th centuries when Albania was under the Ottoman rule.
Sulejman Dashi, and architect and restorer who is working on the clocks’ designs said “the construction of the clock towers is a testimony that the society of these cities was emancipated even though in small numbers. The clock towers were part of the working culture.”
The first clock tower in an Albanian inhabited town dates back in 1555 in nowadays Skopje, Macedonia, followed by those of the central Albanian towns of Elbasan and Peqin.
The clock tower of Peqin is the most special because it is placed in the mosque’s minaret.
The restorer says that the clock towers, a tradition brought by the Ottoman empire, speak of the religious co-existence in Albanian towns.
“The clock towers were placed not only next to mosques, the Orthodox and catholic clerics also influenced on their construction,” restorer Sulejman Dashi told local media.
Three months ago, Tirana’s Clock Tower, a symbol of the capital and one of its oldest buildings, was restored under a special USD 30,000 fund awarded by the US Ambassador to Albania, John Withers.
The 19-century Clock Tower had its clock mechanism and bell repaired.
Built in 1822, the 35-metre Clock Tower has 90 spiral steps and was the tallest building in the capital until 1970. The Tower is located in the heart of the capital next to the Et’hem Beu Mosque. Its clock has been replaced several times most recently in 1970 with a Chinese one. The Clock Tower has been open to tourists since 1996.
