Ottoman clock tower · 1566–1572 · rebuilt 1904
A 37 m brick clock tower of 1566–1572, rebuilt in 1904, beside the Sultan Murad Mosque at the east end of the bazaar.
These are the stories you can open in the 3D view, each at its own numbered point on the model.
The Clock Tower stands at the east end of the Old Bazaar, just north of the Sultan Murad Mosque, and belongs to the mosque’s complex.
It was built between 1566 and 1572 on the base of a medieval defence tower of the monastery of St. George. Today it is 37 metres high.
The tower is often called one of the first public clock towers in the Ottoman lands. The Macedonian Wikipedia goes further and calls it the first; other sources are more careful.
Its white clock faces sit high on the brick shaft, just below the balcony with its iron railing.
According to tradition, the clock mechanism was brought from Szigetvár in Hungary after the Ottomans captured the fortress there in 1566, the year building began.
The sources report it as something that is said rather than as a documented fact, so treat it as a tradition.
The tower was hexagonal from the start, but its upper part was made of timber. It was damaged in the fire of 1689.
In the early 20th century, under the governor Hafiz Pasha, the top was rebuilt in red brick, giving the tower its present form and height. The Macedonian Wikipedia gives 1904; the English Wikipedia says 1902.
Inside, 105 steps climb to the top. The stone base carries the brick shaft, the clock faces, the balcony with its iron railing and the small lantern under an onion-shaped cap.
The clock mechanism was lost in the earthquake of 1963.
The Ottomans took Skopje in 1392. The Sultan Murad Mosque beside the tower is usually dated to 1436; one passage in the English Wikipedia gives 1463, so sources disagree.
Its white minaret with a tall pointed cap rises next to the tower, and its large walled courtyard holds old trees and türbes.
North of the tower stands the domed türbe of Gazi Ishak Bey, one of the türbes in the large walled courtyard of the Sultan Murad Mosque, among old trees.
Under Ishak Bey and his son Isa Bey, the bazaar grew round the Bezisten and the first mosques of Ottoman Üsküp.
Typical prices are our estimates for orientation, not menu prices. Check opening hours on the spot.
Walk around the model, switch between day and night, and hear each story read aloud in English, Macedonian or Turkish.
Open in 3D
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