World's largest clock to tick in Mecca soon

The world's largest clock will soon start ticking atop a soaring skyscraper in Islam's holiest city of Mecca, according to a report on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia hopes the four faces of the new clock, which will loom over Mecca's Grand Mosque, will establish the city as an alternative time standard to the Greenwich median, the Saudi press agency reported.

The experimental operation of Makkah Clock will start in the first week of the holy month of Ramadan and the project will be fully finalised after three months of the operation.

According to SPA, the overall height of the clock tower is 601 meters and the clock height from its base to the highest point is 251 meters.

The tower housing the clock is being built in an Islamic style of architecture. Two lifts will carry visitors to a five-meter balcony below the clocks and the landmark edifice will carry intricate Islamic decorative artworks.

Image: The Makkah Clock  Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons