Saudi Arabia has built the world’s largest clock in the holy city of Mecca and will start three-month test run during the first week of Ramadan. The four-faced clock tower will top a massive skyscraper that when completed will be around 1,970 feet (600 meters) tall, the second tallest in the world after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. It will be visible from more than 16 miles (25 kilometers).
The giant clock was designed by German and Swiss engineers. So far only one of the clock’s four faces has been completed and is covered with 98 million pieces of glass mosaics. Each face will be inscribed with “God is greatest” in Arabic and fitted with thousands of colored lights. Once the clock tower is completed, it will dwarf London’s Big Ben, once the largest four-faced clock in the world, with dials more than five times greater in area.
The around 130 foot (40 meter) diameter Saudi clock dials are also bigger than the current world champion at the Cevahir Mall clock in Istanbul, which has a 36 meter face set in the transparent roof of the shopping complex.
The complex overlooks Mecca’s famed Grand Mosque, which Muslims worldwide face during their five daily prayers and is part of Saudi efforts to develop the city visited by millions of pilgrims every year.
A huge golden crescent moon, 75 feet (23 meters) in diameter, will eventually rise above the clock on a 200 foot (61 meter) spire, from which some 15 beams will shoot up into the sky. The entire clock, from the base up to the crescent, itself will be 820 feet (251 meters) high.
The entire project will cost $800 million.
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