Must-See Clock Towers Around the World

Our ancestors undoubtedly appreciated clock towers in bygone days, when most people lacked any other way to tell time. Today, clock towers are priceless community symbols — historic artifacts that exemplify architectural acumen. If you love learning about time-honored engineering techniques, add these famous destinations to your travel itinerary.  

1. Elizabeth Tower (London, England)

The clock in possibly the world’s most iconic clock tower began ticking on May 31, 1859, with now-familiar accompanying chimes first heard around England’s capital on July 11 that same year. Renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 in honor of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, the Great Clock, often called “Big Ben,” is a replacement tower on the existing site once occupied by England’s first chiming clock tower, constructed in 1367.

Interestingly, the Elizabeth Tower’s much-used nickname, Big Ben, is a misnomer. In context, Big Ben is the name of the bell hanging in the tower, which produces the sound you hear around London every hour on the hour. Since extensive renovations to preserve the Elizabeth Tower for coming generations ended in 2022, Big Ben and the Great Clock have functioned like clockwork.

2. Munich Glockenspiel Tower (Munich, Germany)

The Munich Glockenspiel forms part of the city’s town hall in the Marienplatz square. An original and entertaining tourist attraction, the Glockenspiel contains two levels of figurines that draw crowds to watch them enact scenes from a historical royal wedding daily at 11 a.m. and noon. The clock’s 43 bells play different tunes, which change throughout the year, while visitors gather to watch the Glockenspiel’s top level portray the story of Duke Wilhelm V’s 1588 wedding to Renata of Lorraine.

Complete with horses and a jousting match between a Bavarian and a Frenchman, the upper level regales the wedding tale, while the lower level sees barrel maker figurines perform a traditional dance, the Schäfflertanz, celebrating the end of a plague. If you miss the regular daily Glockenspiel performances, now solar-powered, you can still catch one at 9 p.m. every evening. The Angel of Peace and a nightwatchman blowing a horn to mark the then-curfew time in Munich provide the short-lived figurine entertainment.

3. Petrovaradin Fortress Clock Tower (Novi Sad, Serbia)

The Petrovaradin Fortress, in the town of the same name on the outskirts of Novi Sad, was where an Austrian army victory over Turkish troops in 1716 ended the latter’s threat to Central Europe. The fortress’ famous clock tower, dating back to the 1750s, includes a bewildering timepiece known by locals as “Pijani Sat,” which directly translates to “Drunk Clock.”

While modern architectural clocks have dependable mechanisms for precise timekeeping, weather resistance and fluid motion, Pijani Sat appears to have problems in those departments. Besides its longer hour hand and shorter minute hand, its face is a mirror image of a normal clock, and it keeps time in an anti-clockwise direction. Moreover, the timing mechanism loses time in cold temperatures and gains time in warmer weather. This original clock tower is a must-see if you’re traveling in Serbia. 

4. Worth Avenue Clock Tower (Florida, United States)

The ritzy Worth Avenue shopping district is home to a modern landmark clock tower in Palm Beach, Fla. Since 2010, the Moorish Revival-styled, 25-foot-tall Worth Avenue Clock Tower has adorned the former site of the Palm Beach Pier. A Danish immigrant affectionately known as Captain Gus built the pier in 1925. It was home to a cocktail lounge, coffee shop and fisherman’s tackle shop through the years before its demolition in 1969 due to safety concerns.

The clock tower, made from coquina stone, has four precisely maintained faces — one on each side. Many Palm Beach locals traditionally gather at the location at sunrise every New Year’s Day for a community selfie to mark the celebratory spirit associated with the now-absent Palm Beach Pier. The shopping district and Worth Avenue Clock Tower are must-see attractions when you visit Palm Beach. 

5. Xanthi Clock Tower (Xanthi, Greece)

The Xanthi Clock Tower is integral to the culturally diverse Greek town after which it gets its name. Located in the town’s central square — a particularly lively nighttime area — the tower was once part of an 1870 mosque until Bulgarian troops burned it down during World War II. Since then, the minaret tower has been freestanding. With Xanthi residents predominantly Orthodox Christian, the local municipality attempted to remove it in 1973, but met resistance from the Muslim community. Recently, the Xanthi Clock Tower received national monument status.

If you’re near Xanthi and want to view the tower, consider combining your trip with a Saturday visit to the famous Xanthi bazaar in the square every week. Doing so means you can view the Xanthi Clock Tower while sampling the local beverages and rubbing shoulders with locals and visitors who’ve traveled from countries including Turkey and Bulgaria to partake in the festivities.

6. Makkah Clock Royal Tower (Mecca, Saudi Arabia)

Saudi Arabia’s Abraj Al Bait seven-tower complex in Mecca includes the 1,972-foot Makkah Clock Royal Tower — the world’s tallest clock tower since 2012. Incredibly, the tower lies close to Masjid al-Haram — Islam’s sacred Great Mosque of Mecca, which is the most expensive building globally. So this holy city in Saudi Arabia hosts at least two world record holders within half a mile of each other.

Currently the sixth-tallest freestanding structure worldwide, the Makkah Clock Royal Tower has 120 stories and houses a five-star hotel, which accommodates some of the many worshippers who visit the Kaaba, part of the Masjid al-Haram, and those participating in the annual Hajj. Its clock faces are also larger than any others, measuring 141 feet in diameter. If you’re traveling through Mecca, you can’t miss the Makkah Clock Royal Tower.

7. Bomanjee Hormarjee Wadia Clock Tower (Mumbai, India)

The Fort business precinct in Mumbai is a cultural and historical epicenter, with historical landmarks aplenty and plaques offering tales and reminders of past days on every street. Add the spectacular Persian architecture-style Bomanjee Hormarjee Wadia Clock Tower to the mix to gain architectural insight into 1900s India and learn about the man who contributed much to education in then-Bombay. 

Bomanjee Hormarjee Wadia was a well-known Parsi during the 19th century, on the board of one of the state’s oldest educational institutions and a member of the Bombay Native Education Society. Twenty years after his death, the public donated funds to show their appreciation for his contributions, with the Bomanjee Hormarjee Wadia Clock Tower erected in his honor. You’ll notice the lamassus — protective deities — at every entrance and acanthus leaf cornices adorning the recently renovated tower. 

8. Manila Clock Tower (Manila, Philippines)

The Manila Clock Tower, at almost 100 feet tall, is the tallest in the Southeast Asian country. Its storied past includes its destruction, along with the city hall, during World War II’s month-long 1945 Battle of Manila that badly damaged much of the city’s infrastructure. As a result, the Manila Clock Tower remained in ruins for over 50 years until its renovation began slightly before the new millennium. 

Since the famous clock tower’s initial rebuilding, leaders have changed and digitized the clocks to synchronize with Philippine Standard Time, with their faces painted gold. The Manila Clock Tower now hosts an art gallery and a museum where you can learn more about the Battle of Manila. Now a popular tourist destination, the Manila Clock Tower is a landmark that reminds you of the city’s historical events and symbolizes its architectural distinction.

Also read: Manila’s best rooftop bars

9. Peace Tower (Ottawa, Canada)

Located on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, the Peace Tower is one of Canada’s most distinguished and recognizable features, possibly second only to the national flag that adorns its spire. It is over 300 feet tall, with its walls adorned by grotesques, bosses, reliefs and gargoyles that provide visitors with plenty of photo opportunities. Within the Peace Tower’s stone-carved walls, the Memorial Chamber is a solemn reminder of Canadians who passed away during battles worldwide.

In 1927, the United Kingdom donated the original Peace Tower clock to Canada to mark the 60th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Its malfunction saw it replaced by four faces, with an electric motor operating the hands. Interestingly, the government cannot set the master clock back, so an employee stops it for an hour at daylight saving time in the fall, then moves the hour hand forward when spring arrives. The tower’s carillon, one of North America’s oldest, includes 53 bells that carilloneurs play on a huge keyboard.

10. Stratford Glockenspiel Clock Tower (Stratford, New Zealand)

Though New Zealand’s town of Stratford is thousands of miles away from its namesake, it celebrates William Shakespeare as if he were born there. Almost all the city’s streets take their names from the world-renowned bard’s work, such as Capulet Place and Montague Grove. It should be no surprise that the Stratford Glockenspiel Clock Tower pays homage to literature’s most beloved star-crossed lovers four times daily, on the hour.

Shakespeare buffs will find the Stratford Glockenspiel Clock Tower especially endearing. If you are present when the tower bells strike at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. or 7 p.m., you’ll see six carved figurines, three each of Romeo and Juliet, emerge from doors within the tower. Speakers play some famous “balcony scene” lines in a performance that lasts around five minutes. Though less authentic than its Munich counterpart, the Stratford Glockenspiel Clock Tower is a must-see when visiting the Land of the Long White Cloud.

11. Su Song Park Astronomical Clock Tower (Keifeng, China)

Believed to be the oldest clock tower in the world, the water-driven Astronomical Clock Tower has stood in its current location since the 11th century. Chinese scientist Su Song designed the “Cosmic Engine” device, which includes a mechanism that controls the water-driven wheel movement that runs the clock, similar to how a mechanical clock works. Song developed the device 200 years before the mechanical clock appeared in Europe.  

The clock no longer operates, but the tower’s pagoda-style levels still contain the figurines that rang bells and held signs to tell the time every hour. A large vertical wheel featuring water scoops inside the tower provided a gear system created by the constant filling and emptying of the scoops to rotate the wheel and advance time, with smaller horizontal wheels prompting the relevant motion of the figurines. If you’re traveling in China, you must visit Su Song Park to see the remnants of this piece of ancient Chinese technology.

12. Sather Tower (California, United States)

The 307-foot Sather Tower stands on the University campus in Berkeley, Calif. The tower resembles the since-rebuilt 12th-century Campanile bell tower in Venice, Italy, and hence bears the “Campanile” nickname. Containing the largest four clocks in the state, each with 17-foot Sitka spruce hands and bronze numerals, Sather Tower also has 61 bells in the carillon that ring three times per day except during examination periods. 

Architects built the Campanile in 1914 using Raymond granite, structural steel and Alaskan marble. The marble makes it unique in a way other than its size — it absorbs heat, which causes the tower to sway. Since the rest of the structure is immovable, Sather Tower has developed facade cracks as the marble shifts with the sun and moves back into place when the temperatures drop at night.

13. Gabriadze Clock Tower (Tbilisi, Georgia)

Unusual in Tbilisi and globally since its erection in 2011, this clock tower, known by many as the “Leaning Tower of Tbilisi,” appears to get all its support from a single steel beam. Renowned local puppeteer Rezo Gabriadze built the tower as an addition to his puppet theater, made from a jumble of abandoned building materials from Tbilisi’s historic old town and remnants of the devastating 2002 earthquake that struck the capital. 

While the Gabriadze Clock Tower is unique and astonishing to merely look at, more is in store for visitors on the hour. An angel figurine strikes the tower bell every hour from a small balcony near the summit. Then, below the large clock, you’ll witness a screen opening to display a boy meeting a girl, the couple’s subsequent wedding, her childbirth and a funeral ending their circle of life. The Leaning Tower of Tbilisi will amaze you with its original construction, obvious creativity and inherent purity. 

There’s a Must-See Clock Tower Wherever You Travel

No matter where you go worldwide, there will almost certainly be an incredible clock tower to visit. It might be a tower’s architecture, history, cultural heritage or even a novelty element that appeals to you. Taking time to marvel at the sheer magnitude, ingenious designs or impactful restorations will make you proud of what your fellow humans can achieve.

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Words by Jack Shaw