Jaffa Clock Tower

The Jaffa Clock Tower stands at the junction of Yefet Street and Louis Pasteur Street in Jaffa, in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. It was built in 1903 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the accession of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, one of a series of clock towers raised across the empire in the early twentieth century, including the better known tower in Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate area, to display imperial loyalty and modernity. The tower in Jaffa was funded in part by local merchants and notables and was designed in a limestone Ottoman style with a square plan, arched openings and a clock face on each side. It stands in the area known as Clock Tower Square, which was the commercial heart of Jaffa in the late Ottoman period, near the old municipal building, the Saraya, and the main market streets. During the British Mandate, the tower remained a landmark and a meeting place, and the period's changes in Jaffa, including the clashes of 1921, 1936 and 1948, unfolded within sight of it. In the twentieth century the tower was restored, and its clocks and interior stairs were refurbished, and the square was redeveloped as a pedestrian-friendly plaza with cafes and a small visitors information point. The tower is an exterior monument without a museum inside, so the visit is a short stop to see the carved stone, the clock faces and the inscription plaque in its setting. The curatorial approach is simply the open street, with signs and the nearby Jaffa Museum, housed in a former Ottoman government building, giving context. The tower is in good condition, though the surrounding traffic and street furniture can make photography hard in the middle of the day. It works well as a starting point for walks to the Mahmoudiya Mosque, the flea market and Old Jaffa's Kedumim Square.