Quick facts

Location

The tower rises above the entrance to Khan al-Umdan in the southern part of the Old City of Acre, near its historic port. Khan al-Shuna lies to the west of the khan and the Bab al-Bahr tower to its south. Overlooking the port and the sea walls, the tower has become a defining feature of Acre's skyline from the sea.

The tower: history and architecture

The tower was built in 1901 as part of the campaign of clock towers the Ottomans raised in the cities of Palestine, most of them for the 25th anniversary of Sultan Abdul Hamid II's accession, within a policy of modernising cities and promoting trade. Its site was chosen above the entrance to Khan al-Umdan, the heart of commercial life near the port. The tower has a ground floor and four upper storeys, topped by its clocks, which were replaced with electric clocks in 2001.

Khan al-Umdan

The governor of Acre, Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar, built Khan al-Umdan in 1784, among his great projects in the city, which included its two walls, his mosque and bathhouse, and bringing water into the city. It was the largest caravanserai in Acre, where merchants arriving by sea lodged and stored their goods. Ottoman records describe the khan as "a waqf neither to be sold nor bought", made up of two floors and 48 rooms. Al-Jazzar endowed it to the charitable complex that later bore his name, and it was registered in the Ottoman land registry under number 642.

Ottoman clock towers in Palestine

The Acre tower was one of several Ottoman clock towers in the cities of Palestine. Others include the Jaffa tower in Clock Square, the Haifa tower opposite al-Jarina Mosque, which survived the demolition of the Old City, the Nablus tower at Bab al-Saha, the Safad tower near the Saraya, and the Jerusalem tower above Bab al-Khalil, which the British Mandate removed in 1922.

Acre and the Nakba

The 1946 census recorded 13,560 inhabitants in Acre, almost all Arab, with no more than 50 Jewish residents. On 17 May 1948 the city fell to Haganah forces and most of its people were expelled, while some remained in the Old City. The property of Palestinian refugees was sold at public auction, the Arabs who remained in the Old City were barred from restoring their homes, and by 2010 they made up only 35% of the city's population.

The tower and the khan today (2026)

The Clock Tower still stands above Khan al-Umdan, one of the landmarks of Acre's Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. Yet the khan, though a registered Islamic waqf, was among the historic sites the Israeli company Amidar has tried to seize. This is part of wider pressure on the Old City, home to some 5,000 Arabs, including hotel and resort projects and eviction orders against Arab families. For the people of Acre, the tower and the khan remain part of their city's Arab and Islamic identity.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Above a khan that al-Jazzar built for merchants arriving from the sea, the Ottomans raised a clock that has chimed for Acre for more than a century. The tower still looks over the port and the walls that repelled Napoleon, a witness to an Arab city and to a waqf "neither to be sold nor bought" that its people hold onto in the face of attempts to seize it.