Çorum Clock Tower

Merkez Clock TowerHistoric Buildings October 2010

The Çorum Clock Tower is one of the best-known landmarks of the city centre, rising right at the middle of the junction where Osmancık, İskilip and Gazi avenues meet — one of the busiest spots in the city. With this position, the structure is not merely an instrument for measuring time; it is also an urban reference point set at the heart of the city’s public memory and street fabric.

History

According to the inscription on the tower, the structure was built in 1896 by Yedisekiz Hasan Paşa, the Guardian of Beşiktaş and the man who suppressed the Ali Suavi incident in İstanbul. This period coincides with the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II. In the second half of the 19th century, clock towers became widespread in Ottoman cities and stood as one of the most visible public symbols of a modern understanding of time and of municipal thinking; the tower in Çorum is among the Anatolian examples of this broad wave of modernisation.

The inscription, whose transcription is known thanks to Assoc. Prof. Hakkı Acun, was written by the calligrapher Hattat Mehmet Nuri (1868–1951):

Şehinşah-ı zaman Abdülhamid Han-ı keremkarın
Ferman-ı kiramından Hasan Paşayı bihemta
Bütün evkatını vakf eyledi ihya-ı hayrata
Muvaffak eylesun her dem anı amaline Mevla
Bu saat kulesi ez cümle hayrat-ı güzininden
Yapıldı yumn-ü evferle bu şehri eyledi ihya
Çıkup bir vakt-i eşrefde yazıldı babına tarih
Bu mikat-i celili yaptı bak Lütfi Hasan Paşa
l312(1896)

In the decades following its initial construction, the structure has received maintenance against deterioration; the tower was restored in 1976. This restoration can be regarded as part of the effort to preserve the city’s historic fabric and to keep its distinctive landmarks standing.

Architecture

The Çorum Clock Tower was built of the yellow cut stone commonly used in the region; this choice of material gives the structure both durability and harmony with the local architectural fabric. At first glance the tower gives the impression of a minaret, and it stands 27.50 metres tall. Its 24-sided body rises on an octagonal base, and the body is roughly 5.30 metres in diameter.

Inside the body is a staircase of 81 steps; this staircase leads up to the tower’s balcony, which resembles the gallery (şerefe) of a minaret. In the upper part of the body there is a clock face on each of the four sides. Above the clock faces is a four-sided section, each side of which has a window in the shape of an equilateral triangle, crowned by a dome. This tiered arrangement — composed of an octagonal base, a many-sided body and a domed finial — reflects the typical composition of the Ottoman clock tower tradition.

Visiting and Surroundings

Because it stands at a point in the city centre where the main avenues intersect, the Çorum Clock Tower is extremely easy to reach, and the structure is part of the city’s daily life. Those strolling around it can also see, with short walks, the other cultural assets located in the same historic core.

Related places: among the historic buildings in central Çorum, the Municipal Building, the Çorum Grand Mosque (Murad-ı Rabi Mosque), and, for examples of traditional civil architecture, the Çorum Houses. The Sungurlu Clock Tower, another example of the same type of structure in the province, is also of interest for comparison.