The Clock tower of Arta is next to the castle of Arta at its northwestern side, but it is an independent building and is presented here separately.

History

The 21m high clock tower is a monument of the 17th century. The exact date of construction is not known but it must have been built between 1630 and 1650. It is the older clock in Epirus and one of the oldest in Greece.

The first source mentioning the clock is the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi who reports that the sound of its bell could be heard from a distance one hour away and remarks that its technology was more advanced than any other city clock (in the Ottoman empire).

The original clock was measuring time by the Muslim timekeeping system based on the daily intervals that the faithful should perform their prayers. It was decorated with Arabic scripts. In 1908 it was replaced by a clock measuring time in the western way with a pendulum mechanism. In 1994 this mechanism was replaced, again, by an electronic system.

Sources