Located on Tirana’s central Skanderbeg Square, the Clock Tower is one of the Albanian capital’s great landmarks and was built in 1822 by Haxhi Et`hem Bey, who also designed the mosque next door. Just over a century later, the height of the clock tower was increased to 115 feet (35 meters) high and today it competes with the slender minaret of the neighboring Et`hem Bey Mosque; by night they are both beautifully illuminated, throwing flickering shadows across the square. The tower is almost Venetian in appearance, with a simple stone tower topped with clocks on all four sides and a pyramid-shaped cupola. Views from the wrought-iron balcony that rings the tower just below the clocks – a climb of 90 stone steps – look down over the great equestrian statue of military hero Skanderbeg, the National Historical Museum, the center of the city and beyond to the Dajti mountain range. A small museum adjacent to the tower holds exhibitions on Albanian life and culture.
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