Clock tower in the town of Karnobat

Overview

The clock tower in Karnobat was built in the middle of the 19th century by masters from the Tryavna School of Architecture.

It is located in the old part of the city, dominating the Revival architectural ensemble of the bazaar.

The construction of the clock tower is connected with the economic prosperity of the population and the craft associations in the region during the Renaissance. The tower was built by order of the local rich man Ahpaaza Bey. The construction was assigned to Bulgarian masters from Tryavna. The name of the master builder is not preserved.

Architecturally, the clock tower in Karnobat has a purely Balkan look. It is characterized by elongated prismatic stone volumes, on which is built a rafter superstructure with polygonal round sections, topped with a semi-flat coating. It is believed that in the spring of 1841 the clock tower was completely completed.

It is 23.45 meters high, built of stone and mortar. Interesting in architectural terms is the lower stone body of the tower, which has a square shape measuring 5.45 meters. It is 5.8 m high and elegantly transforms into an octagonal prism. The stone part of the clock tower has a total height of 14 m, the superstructure - 6.80 m, the roof with a spike - 2.75 m.

The time was counted by the ringing of the bell. The clock mechanism was the work of a Gabrovo master. The bell was bought from Romania. A copy of the clockwork, made by local master Dimitar Todorov, is kept in the Ethnographic Museum in Karnobat.

In an issue of October 5, 1874, the weekly socio-political newspaper Iztochno Vremya, published in Constantinople, wrote: “this dirty town until yesterday, Karnobat, he has now reached the point of repair. Its streets are trimmed, the newly built bell tower is proudly wise among the white minarets.

The famous Karnobat poet Ivan Karanovski (1882 - 1960) sang the clock tower in his poem.

In the 1940s, the clockwork was broken down and recycled. In 1983, the Karnobat master of tower clocks Dimitar Todorov restored the clock mechanism and woke up the bell tower for a second life.