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Abraj Al Bait
Sign in to saveAlso known as Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower, Abraj Al-Bait Towers
building complex in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Abraj Al Bait is a large building complex located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, near the city's most sacred religious site. The complex is notable for its prominent architecture and serves as a significant landmark in one of Islam's holiest cities.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- clock tower
- Country
- Saudi Arabia
- Located in
- Mecca
- Area
- 1500000
- Owned by
- Saudi Arabia
- Material used
- carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer
- Manufacturer
- Saudi Binladin Group
- Official website
- theclocktowers.com
- Image
- അബ്രാജ് അൽ-ബൈത്ത് ടവർ.jpg
- Height
- 601
- Significant event
- conflagration
- Has use
- parking garage
Show 14 more facts
- architect
- Mahmoud Bodo Rasch
- main building contractor
- Saudi Binladin Group
- floors above ground
- 120
- Commons category
- Abraj Al Bait Towers
- structural engineer
- Dar Al-Handasah
- inception
- 2012-00-00
- date of official opening
- 2011-00-00
- architectural style
- postmodern architecture
- number of elevators
- 96
- adjacent structure or building
- Al-Masjid Al-Haram
- structure replaces
- Ajyad Fortress
- capital cost
- 15000000000
- inspired by
- Big Ben
- name in native language
- أبراج الساعة
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
The Clock Towers (Arabic: أبراج الساعة, romanized: ʾAbrāj as-Sāʿaẗ, lit. 'Towers of the Clock', formerly known as Abraj al-Bait Arabic: أبراج البيت, romanized: ʾAbrāj al-Bayt, lit. 'Towers of the House') is a government-owned hotel complex with seven skyscraper hotels in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. These towers are part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment Project that aims to modernize the city in catering to its pilgrims. The central hotel tower, which is the Mecca Royal Clock Tower, is the fourth-tallest building and sixth-tallest freestanding structure in the world. According to Guinness World Records, the Mecca Royal Clock Tower is the tallest clock tower in the world, and the complex of seven buildings comprise the world's second most expensive building. The clock faces are the largest in the world, and the top four floors of the clock tower house the Clock Tower Museum.
The building complex is 300 metres (980 ft) away from the world's largest mosque and Islam's most sacred site, the Great Mosque of Mecca. The developer and contractor of the complex is the Saudi Binladin Group, the Kingdom's largest construction company. The total cost of construction totaled US$15 billion. The complex was built after the demolition of the Ajyad Fortress, the 18th-century Ottoman citadel on top of a hill overlooking the Grand Mosque. The destruction of the historically significant site in 2002 by the Saudi government sparked an outcry and a strong reaction from Turkey.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Abraj Al Bait” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.