MECCA, (Makkah), Saudi Arabia -- The Royal Mecca Clock, a giant clock on a skyscraper in Islam's holiest city has four faces measuring 151 feet (43 meters) in diameter - setting the new world record for the Largest Clock.
Photo: The Largest Clock in The World will tower over the holy Kabaa in Mecca, Saudi Arabia at a height of 1,972 ft. / AP photo
Photo: The Largest Clock in The World will tower over the holy Kabaa in Mecca, Saudi Arabia at a height of 1,972 ft. / AP photo
Over 90 million pieces of colored glass mosaic embellish the sides of the World's Largest Clock, which has four faces each bearing a large inscription of the name "Allah". It is visible from all corners of the city, the state news agency said.
Islam's holy month of Ramadan is a lot about the calendar and the clock.
More than six times larger in diameter than London's famed Big Ben, the clock faces, with the Arabic words "In the Name of Allah" in huge lettering underneath and will be lit with two million LED lights.
Some 21,000 white and green coloured lights, fitted at the top of the World's Largest Clock, will flash to as far as 30 kilometres (18.7 miles) to signal Islam's mandatory five-times daily prayers.
On special Muslim occasions, 16 bands of vertical lights will shoot some 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) up into the sky.
The Largest Clock in The World will run on Arabia Standard Time, which is three hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Saudi Arabia hopes the clock will establish the holy city as an alternate time standard to the Greenwich median.
The clock tower is the landmark feature of the seven-tower King Abdulaziz Endowment hotel complex, being built by the Saudi Binladin Group, which will have the largest floor area of any building in the world when it is complete. Local media have said the clock tower project cost $3 billion.
Local media have said the clock tower project cost $3 billion.
The World's Largest Clock will loom over Mecca's Grand Mosque from the top of what will be the world's second tallest building behind Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
Saudi Arabia's state news agency says the tower, designed by German and Swiss engineers, will be more than 600 meters high, or roughly six times the height of London's famous Big Ben.
The clock tower is part of the Abraj al-Bait hotel complex in Mecca. Visitors will be able to stand on a terrace beneath the clock to view the city.
The project is part of efforts to modernize the holy city and make it more capable of catering to pilgrims. Around 2 million Muslims visit the city each year for the annual Haj pilgrimage, a once-in-a-lifetime requirement for able-bodied Muslims, and 3.5 million pilgrims visit Makkah at other times of the year.
The 130 foot diameter clock dials in Mecca will also bigger than the current world record holder at the Cevahir Mall clock in Istanbul, which has a 36 meter face.
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