Famous Clock Towers Around the World: Top 10

Famous clock towers are landmarks that have told cities the time for centuries, from a medieval gate in Bern to London's Big Ben and Mecca's giant clock.

This Finepedia guide, written in October 2026, looks at 10 of the world's most famous clock towers and town clocks, from the 13th century to the 21st. Some are loved for their moving figures, some for their bells, and some for sheer size. The facts come from heritage bodies, city and parliament records, encyclopaedias and UNESCO, and where dates are uncertain we say so. If you enjoy great buildings, you may also like Finepedia's guides to the most famous man-made arches in the world and the best-preserved medieval towns in Europe.

How We Chose These

Before watches and phones, a public clock was how a whole town knew the time, and the tower that held it was often the proudest building in the city. We chose ten towers that are famous for their history, their engineering, their bells or their shows of moving figures, from Europe, Asia and the Americas. They are listed in chronological order, by when the tower or its famous clock first appeared. For each one you will find a short story, four key facts and a closer look at why it matters.

The 10 Clock Towers at a Glance

1. The Zytglogge Has Kept Bern's Time for Centuries

The Zytglogge, whose name means time bell in the Bernese dialect, went up around 1218 to 1220 as a gateway in the city walls on the west side of Bern. As the city grew, it lost its defensive role and served at various times as a prison and a guard tower. After a great fire in 1405 burned it out, it was rebuilt, and a clock was installed in the early 15th century.

Key Facts

• Location: Old City of Bern, Switzerland
• Built: about 1218 to 1220
• Clockwork rebuilt: 1527 to 1530, by Kaspar Brunner
• UNESCO: within Bern's World Heritage old town

Why It Matters

Its astronomical clock and moving figures, including a bearded figure of Chronos with an hourglass, draw crowds each hour. More than 800 years after it was built, it remains one of the most recognisable sights of Bern.

2. The Prague Orloj Is a Medieval Clock That Still Works

The Prague Orloj hangs on the south face of the town hall in Prague's Old Town Square. Its oldest parts, the clockwork and the astronomical dial, were made in 1410 by the clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and the astronomer Jan Šindel. The dial tracks where the Sun and Moon sit in the sky, along with other astronomical details, and a calendar dial was added around 1490.

Key Facts

• Location: Old Town Square, Prague
• First recorded: 9 October 1410
• Makers: Mikuláš of Kadaň and Jan Šindel
• Hourly show: the Walk of the Apostles

Did You Know?

Every hour a skeleton representing Death pulls a rope and rings a bell, and figures of the Apostles pass by two small windows above the dial. The clock was badly damaged in May 1945, when German forces fired on the square during the uprising in the city, and was carefully repaired after the war. It is often called the oldest astronomical clock that still runs.

3. The Spasskaya Tower Rings in Russia's New Year

The Spasskaya Tower, or Saviour Tower, is the chief gate tower of the Moscow Kremlin, facing Red Square from the Kremlin's east side. It was built in 1491 by Pietro Antonio Solari, an architect from Italy, for Grand Prince Ivan III. A clock was fitted sometime in the following century, and in 1624 to 1625 the tower received its tall, pointed roof.

Key Facts

• Location: Moscow Kremlin, Russia
• Built: 1491, by Pietro Antonio Solari
• Clock face: about 6 m across
• Height with star: about 71 m

Why It Matters

Its clock, known as the Kremlin chimes, sets official Moscow time, and its chimes are broadcast across Russia at midnight on New Year's Eve. In the 1930s the double-headed eagle on its spire was replaced by a red star, which still crowns the tower.

4. The Venice Clock Tower Has Bronze Giants Striking the Hour

The Torre dell'Orologio stands on the north side of St Mark's Square in Venice, above the archway into the Merceria, the shopping street that led to the Rialto. Both the tower and its clock date from the 1490s, and the design is often credited to the architect Mauro Codussi. The tower was placed so its clock could be seen from the lagoon, showing off the wealth of Venice to arriving ships.

Key Facts

• Location: St Mark's Square, Venice
• Built: 1490s
• Bell: cast in 1497 at the Venetian Arsenal
• Dial: gold zodiac signs, original from the 1490s

Did You Know?

On the roof, two huge bronze figures, one old and one young, strike the hours on the great bell. They are nicknamed the Moors because of their dark colour. Twice a year, at Epiphany and on Ascension Day, figures of the three wise men, following an angel, come out and pass in front of the Virgin and Child.

5. Big Ben Is the World's Most Famous Bell

Strictly speaking, Big Ben is the name of the Great Bell inside the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in London, but most people use it for the whole tower. Designed by Augustus Pugin and Charles Barry in the Gothic Revival style, the tower was finished in 1859. In 2012 it was renamed the Elizabeth Tower for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.

Key Facts

• Location: Palace of Westminster, London
• Completed: 1859
• Height: about 96 m, with 334 steps to the belfry
• Great Bell: about 13.7 tonnes

Why It Matters

On completion, no four-faced chiming clock anywhere was bigger or kept better time. Its design was worked out with help from the Astronomer Royal, George Airy. It is still adjusted by adding or taking away old pennies on its pendulum. A major restoration that began in 2017 and lasted about five years cleaned the stonework, repaired the clock and added a lift.

6. The Rajabai Clock Tower Is Mumbai's Big Ben

The Rajabai Clock Tower rises about 85 metres above the university grounds in the Fort district of south Mumbai. It was designed by George Gilbert Scott, a leading Victorian architect in England, partly modelled on Big Ben, in a blend of Venetian and Gothic styles. Building began in 1869 and was finished in November 1878, using buff-coloured local Kurla stone.

Key Facts

• Location: University of Mumbai, Fort, Mumbai
• Built: 1869 to 1878
• Height: about 85 m
• UNESCO: part of the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai, listed 2018

Why It Matters

Much of the money came from Premchand Roychand, a rich trader in shares and one of the founders of the stock exchange in Bombay, on condition that the tower carry his mother's name, Rajabai. According to a popular story, she was blind, and the tower's evening bell helped her know when it was time for her evening meal, eaten before sunset as her Jain faith required.

7. Philadelphia City Hall Puts William Penn on Top

Philadelphia City Hall was built from 1871 to 1901 in a richly decorated French Second Empire style to designs by John McArthur Jr. and Thomas Ustick Walter. Including the bronze statue of the city's founder, William Penn, on its top, the tower reaches about 167 metres. Just below Penn, a large clock face looks out from each of the four sides.

Key Facts

• Location: Penn Square, Philadelphia
• Built: 1871 to 1901
• Height: about 167 m, including the Penn statue
• Status: National Historic Landmark since 1976

Why It Matters

From 1894 until 1908 no building people could live or work in stood taller anywhere, and no clock tower beat it until 1909. For decades an unwritten agreement kept every Philadelphia building below the height of the Penn statue, until One Liberty Place broke it in the 1980s. It remains the biggest free-standing building made of masonry on Earth.

8. Munich's Glockenspiel Puts On a Daily Show

The Neues Rathaus, Munich's new town hall on the Marienplatz, has a tower that holds the famous Rathaus-Glockenspiel. The clockwork was first heard in 1908. Its 43 bells play tunes while 32 nearly life-size figures act out two scenes from the city's history, high above the square.

Key Facts

• Location: Marienplatz, Munich, Germany
• First heard: 1908
• Bells: 43
• Figures: 32

Did You Know?

The upper scene shows a joust held in 1568 to celebrate the marriage of the Bavarian duke William V to Renata of Lorraine. The lower one shows the Schäfflertanz, a coopers' dance that is said to have been first performed to cheer the city after a plague in the early 16th century.

9. The Peace Tower Is Canada's Memorial to the Great War

The Peace Tower rises from the middle of the Centre Block of Canada's Parliament buildings in Ottawa. It replaced the older Victoria Tower, lost in the 1916 fire that destroyed almost all of the Centre Block. The architects Jean Omer Marchand and John Pearson designed the new tower, which is about 92 metres tall and decorated with around 370 carved gargoyles, grotesques and friezes.

Key Facts

• Location: Parliament Hill, Ottawa
• Height: about 92 m
• Clock faces: about 4.8 m across
• Carillon: 53 bells, first played on 1 July 1927

Why It Matters

The tower was built as a memorial to the Canadians who died in the First World War. It holds the Memorial Chamber, where books of remembrance list the names of the fallen, and its carillon was inaugurated on Canada's 60th anniversary of Confederation. It appeared on Canadian twenty-dollar notes for many years.

10. The Makkah Royal Clock Tower Is the Tallest Clock Tower Ever Built

The Makkah Royal Clock Tower is the central tower of a group of hotel skyscrapers about 300 metres from the Great Mosque in Mecca. Completed in 2012, it rises about 601 metres. No building in Saudi Arabia is taller, and Guinness World Records lists it as the world's highest clock tower.

Key Facts

• Location: Mecca, Saudi Arabia
• Height: about 601 m
• Clock faces: 43 m by 43 m, the largest in the world
• Lights: about 2 million LEDs on the clock faces

Why It Matters

Its four clock faces can be seen from far across the city, and the top floors hold a clock tower museum and an astronomy centre used to sight the new moon at the start of each Islamic month. The building also has loudspeakers that carry the call to prayer for several kilometres.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Big Ben the name of the tower?

No. Big Ben is the nickname of the huge bell that strikes the hours. The tower was called the Clock Tower until 2012, when it was renamed the Elizabeth Tower, but most people still call the whole building Big Ben.

Which clock tower is the highest?

The Makkah Royal Clock Tower in Saudi Arabia, at about 601 metres, is the tallest. It is also the tallest building in the country and has the largest clock faces ever made.

Conclusion

From the medieval Zytglogge to the towering clock in Mecca, these ten clock towers show how keeping time has always been a matter of civic pride. Some, like the Prague Orloj and the Munich Glockenspiel, are famous for their moving figures, while Big Ben and the Kremlin chimes are known by their sound around the world. For more great buildings, read Finepedia's guides to the most famous man-made arches in the world and the best-preserved medieval towns in Europe.