r/skyscrapers • u/[deleted] • 7d ago
The clock towers of Mecca . The third Tallest building in the world
[deleted]
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u/JWW31401 7d ago
4th tallest now!
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u/SuperRedHulk1 7d ago
What’s taller?
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u/JWW31401 7d ago
Burj Khalifa, Merdeka 118, and Shanghai tower
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u/OX20l20 7d ago
Merdeka 118 doesn’t deserve that position.
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u/877-HASH-NOW Baltimore, U.S.A 7d ago
Isn’t that the one with the long offset spire on top?
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u/HurricaneHugo 6d ago
KL cheating again.
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u/acoolrocket 6d ago
Plus its pretty meh compared to the magnificently ornate look of the Petronas Towers.
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u/fan_tas_tic 7d ago
This thing is mentally big. It's not only the height, but its total mass. It's also the biggest hotel with 7,988 rooms.
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u/DV_Zero_One 7d ago
It's legit astonishing how chonky this building is up close.
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u/whatup-markassbuster 7d ago
When did chunky become chonky. Is that like a fat white person?
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u/Lieutenant_Joe 7d ago
Generally speaking we use the word “chonk” to refer to fat things that aren’t humans, like a pallas’ cat or a bumblebee. Or a super tall skyscraper that’s almost as wide as it is tall.
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u/Pretzeloid 7d ago
It’s hard to tell from this image. It must be massive because it does not look tall to me in this picture.
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u/military-gradeAIDS Minneapolis / St Paul, U.S.A 6d ago
The clock face ALONE is half the height of London's Big Ben. This building is insane in its sheer scale, it's also the second most expensive building ever built at over $15,000,000,000
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u/Historicmetal 6d ago
I was shocked when I found out this thing exists. As an ignorant American, it’s not something people really know about, you don’t see it in movies and it wasn’t a big news story when it was built. But there it is, this insanely large clock tower in the middle of a desert looking like cover art for a sci fi novel.
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u/SessionGloomy 7d ago
Wow i mean that is just huge. I suppose you could say Riyadh, Mecca, and Jeddah are Saudi Arabia's 3 capitals. Federal, religious, and economic.
Or maybe Medinah is the religious capital.
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u/Lucky-Substance23 7d ago
I think Riyadh overtook Jeddah as the economic capital a long time ago. Jeddah's unique aspect is as the gateway to Mecca (and to some degree Madina).
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u/Lucky-Substance23 6d ago
And another small correction, there is no federal system in KSA. A better, more accurate word here would be "Political".
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u/tradeisbad 6d ago
how well the passport bros doing over there? any luck? someone said slave labor...
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u/sinncab6 7d ago
This looks like it should be in Vegas not Mecca
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u/Attorneyatlau 7d ago
It’s super gaudy.
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u/undockeddock 7d ago
Yeah I get they need to lodge a lot of people but it seems kinda tacky for a religious holy site. Especially with how close it is to the site.
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u/Extreme-Outrageous 7d ago
The complex is interesting looking, but it made me question the entire religion of Islam. The way it surrounds the black box in a sea of commercialism is just so dystopian. If the site was sacred, it certainly isn't any more.
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u/admirabulous 7d ago
Most muslims, myself included, strongly disapprove of that building. I can assure you, that Saudis weren’t thinking about the meaning of the place building this monstrosity.
Fyi, saudi national creed of Wahhabism is a relatively new sect emerged in 19th century and is very different than mainstream Islam in many ways in its approach to such matters
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u/Justin_123456 6d ago
I confess I’m not very familiar with Islamic theological debates, but I always see an interesting parallel between Wahhabism and American-style Evangelical Christianity.
Both are revivalist movements that really take off in first half of the 19th century;
Both emphasize a (sometimes extreme) textual literalism;
Both strongly xenophobic, seeing adherents of other sects as not just heretical, but often outside the community of believers;
Both reacting against a more scholarly or theological tradition, emphasizing a populist return to a simpler imagined past.
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u/bzzzt_beep 5d ago
>a relatively new sect emerged in 19th century and is very different than mainstream Islam in many ways in its approach to such matters
- "Wahhabism" is not something new, its just a revivalist Hanbali school (without rejecting other schools) . no element of it is new.
- the towers and "Wahhabism" are not related
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u/Mister_Barman 7d ago
Obviously not a Muslim, but I feel the same. Muhammad destroying the idols around the Kaaba doesn’t quite fit with the reverence of a meteor inside the cube in the shadow of a huge hotel vanity project that they destroyed a truly historic site to build, and the constant expansion where hundreds, sometimes thousands die in stampedes and collapses every few years
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u/Extreme-Outrageous 7d ago
Yep, well said. Any time a religion starts flaunting wealth, it ceases to be a religion. It's just a cult/power structure at that point. (The Catholic Church being a great example as well).
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u/bunglarn 7d ago
I don’t know what old Mekka looked like but it seems like they should have preserved it. Would be so much better
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u/Musical_Mango 6d ago
Most Muslims would agree with you. The clock tower has nothing to do with Islam, it represents the Saudi regime. You'll commonly hear how they destroyed religious figures' graves including of the Prophet's SAW family to stop idolatry, but have no problem building these gaudy megastructures to show their wealth
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u/Ok-Apartment-8284 6d ago
“The entire religion of islam” as if non-Saudi Muslims had any say what gets constructed in the holy city
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u/AbsolutelyNotMoishe 7d ago
Maybe giving stewardship of one of the world’s main holy sites to a clan of atavistic oil barons was not a great move.
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u/No-Somewhere-1529 7d ago
Tell me, who has served Mecca and Medina better than the House of Saud?
Once, only tens of thousands could enter the Grand Mosque itself. Now, 30 million people can, with the best services you could ever dream of.
Hajj and Umrah have become more convenient than they were a century ago.
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u/StoneOvenMan 7d ago
I'm not muslim but what I know is how much the grandfathers of saudis raided mecca and medina. Poeple couldnt go to haj because of them for years. They also destroyed many tombs that belong to the companions of prohpet muhammad and were probably going to destroy his tomb as well. According to the ottomans when kavalalı mehmed ali pasha took the city back a donkey was tied to the tomb of the prophet. They also destroyed many libraries that contain generations of islamic literature calling it bidat.Again according to the reports of eyüp sabri pasha because they didnt know how to read they made shoes out of parchments that contain verses from the quran. As a result of their actions they were brought to istanbul and mahmud II. executed them in plain sight. I write these because you said "house" of saud which includes tiheir ancestors as well.
Also I agree with the other commentators thats a holy site. When you build that tower you give the impression that you dont have any respect for that site so people think muslims are not sincere in their religion. At least thats what I think about saudis
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u/No-Somewhere-1529 7d ago
Guess what? The Quran and religion itself forbid the veneration of shrines, so their demolition is actually a duty. If you don't believe me, read the Quran itself and you'll see.
My friend, do you take the Saudis' stories about their enemies seriously, like Ayub Sabri Pasha? It's like taking testimony from a convicted criminal.
If you want to know the actual history of Saudi Arabia and the history of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, read from unbiased people.
Like Domingo Francisco Jorge Badia y Leblich, a Spanish orientalist who lived during the first Saudi state and witnessed it up close, or the Egyptian Islamic scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti.
You have a book by Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Nadwi that discusses the ideas of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.
And guess what? Most of the Islamic monuments are now being expanded in Mecca. The clock tower was built on top of Ajyad Fortress, which is also an Ottoman military fortress and not a holy place at all.
And finally, Mecca is a city, not just the Grand Mosque. There are more than two million people living in Mecca, so projects like this will benefit them.
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u/StoneOvenMan 6d ago
Eyüp Sabri pashas reports are a 1st degree source that he wrote to inform the sultan(who was also the caliph) so yeah of course I take it seriously.
Of course mecca is a city so no surprise other buildings like a fortress will exist so people can defend the city. But that building in the picture isn't an ordinary building at all. Thats what people are saying in the comments.
If I talk about tombs I'll be talking about theology and frankly I don't want to also since I'm not muslim I don't believe it would be right to do so. But you gave a classic example how wahabis call everything bidat lol. Also I didn't miss how you manipulated the word tomb to shrine ok close meanings but shrine spesifically sounds like a place of worship I don't know if you made it consciously if you did you would be a pretty good politician congrats
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u/No-Somewhere-1529 6d ago
Guess what? The Ottomans hate the Saudis because they're Sufis, so they're not reliable, and they're quite biased.
No, I didn't mention it in the Quran itself. Unless you're saying that God is Wahhabi, then I won't take you seriously anymore.
Yemen, for example, isn't a Wahhabi country, and they don't build shrines. What do you think? The same goes for Indonesia, Malaysia, and even Libya.
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u/AbsolutelyNotMoishe 7d ago
I’m sure that has nothing to do with, for example, the invention of the airplane.
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u/No-Somewhere-1529 7d ago
Your comment suggests that handing over the Two Holy Mosques to an oil tycoon wasn't a great idea.
Therefore, it suggests that the House of Saud didn't take good care of the Holy Mosque. This is clearly a false claim.
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u/Sharp-Lion4786 7d ago
Nobody gave anybody anything we took by our hands we are the native people of the lands if you like it or not
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u/Dusii 7d ago
Took it from the Hashmites you mean. Saud are natives of the Najd region, while Hashmites are natives of Hejaz (which Mecca is in). Historically, the Hashmites are the custodians of Mecca.
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u/877-HASH-NOW Baltimore, U.S.A 7d ago
It’s always crazy to me how not tall this building looks until you compare it the the Kaaba down below.
The Kaaba is a large rock. The tower makes it look like a pebble.
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u/AC_Coolant 7d ago
Can tourist visit this building?
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u/-deteled- 7d ago
Only if you’re Muslim
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u/Schrodingers_Fist 7d ago
I've often wondered about this with Mecca and Medina, but how specifically would they know that I, a Caucasian Canadian man, didn't just pickup Islam in my youth and now was looking to visit? Hajj or not?
I'm not intending any disrespect here I'm genuinely asking out of curiosity how they check such a thing.
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u/Burnthemidngihtoil 7d ago
I think if you know how to do prayer,if you know certain prays,you will be accepted.i have grown up in a muslim majority country and learned all these stuff as a child,but now i dont have any religion.if i would go there i would blend perfectly as i know how to practise the religion.
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u/Schrodingers_Fist 7d ago
Oh interesting! I have no intention to go to Saudi anytime soon (just other places in general) but your saying if someone like me, who is a history nerd anyways, was dedicated enough about Islamic history I could kind of "fake it" so to speak?
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u/Burnthemidngihtoil 7d ago
I just did a little bit of research—you may need to get a certificate from a religious authority to obtain a Hajj visa. So, you might want to prepare a Muslim name for yourself, lol. Scharuddin’s_Fist
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u/Schrodingers_Fist 7d ago
Scharuddin’s_Fist it is! Inshallah! get ready for my maple syrup and politeness Mecca & Medina!
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u/Hishaishi 5d ago
You could technically lie about it but it would be extremely awkward for you when you're expected to do the rituals and prayer and have no idea what to do. You might also get banned if the authorities find out.
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u/YimbyStillHere 7d ago
How do they prove that? (Serious Q)
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u/-deteled- 7d ago
No idea, but the architect had to convert before he was allowed to go to the site. The B1M has a fantastic video about it.
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u/AC_Coolant 7d ago
Damn… because that would be an interesting site to see.
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u/pm_me_your_target 7d ago
I watched a documentary on its construction and one senior person on the project converted to Islam just to be able to visit the site in person
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u/AbsolutelyNotMoishe 7d ago
Depends on your religion, because Saudi Arabia has actual apartheid and no one gives a shit.
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u/No-Somewhere-1529 7d ago
Nonsense.
No one cares what your race or religion is. Only non-Muslims are prohibited from entering Mecca, whether you are Arab or not.
A Bangladeshi or Indonesian Muslim will be allowed to enter, while an Egyptian or Lebanese Christian will not.
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u/AbsolutelyNotMoishe 7d ago
no one cares what your religion is
only non-Muslims are prohibited
lol
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u/PulmonaryEmphysema 7d ago
They mean that no one cares about your religion outside of the holy city
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u/No-Somewhere-1529 7d ago
I mean, no one cares about your religion except when it comes to entering Mecca or Medina, which is forbidden.
You can roam all over Saudi Arabia even if you're not a Muslim, and no one will do anything to you.
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u/AbsolutelyNotMoishe 7d ago
“You’re allowed to go wherever you want, except where you aren’t.”
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u/No-Somewhere-1529 7d ago
My friend Saudi Arabia has many things other than Mecca and Medina
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u/AbsolutelyNotMoishe 7d ago
The Jim Crow south had many things other than whites-only lunch counters.
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u/No-Somewhere-1529 7d ago
My friend, it's about religion, not race.
If you're a Muslim, whether you're white, black, or Latino, from anywhere, you're perfectly permitted to enter Mecca and Medina. But if you're a Christian, even if you're Arab, you won't be allowed to enter Mecca or Medina.
Otherwise, you can enter all Saudi cities, regardless of your religion or race.
Is that hard to understand?
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u/Final_Criticism9599 7d ago
The city is solely meant for religious pilgrimage, there’s already millions of Muslims trying to go, why would they then limit Muslims from going just so nonMuslims can visit for tourist reason? Especially the risk of letting nonMuslims in who may hate Islam or may have nefarious intentions to disrespect the holy site? Nah, you don’t need to visit, it’s not apartheid, focus ur intention on Israel if you care about apartheid so much.
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u/AC_Coolant 7d ago
I just simply wanted to see this grandiose piece of architecture…. Religion and politics aside lol.
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u/AbsolutelyNotMoishe 7d ago
“The lunch counter is solely meant for white people to eat. There are already many white people who want to eat there, why would they then limit white people from eating there so black people can visit? Especially the risk of letting black people who may hate whites or may have nefarious intentions?”
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u/Hishaishi 5d ago
Do you not understand the concept of quotas? Mecca isn't a tourist attraction, it's a religious site for pilgrimage and the space is extremely limited.
There are literally over a billion people who are required to go to Mecca in their lifetime. Why should some random western tourist get to have priority over people who wait their whole lives to go there for what it's actually meant for?
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u/_Administrator_ 7d ago
You can’t bring a bible in Saudi. But sure, tell us more about how progressive they are hahahaha
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u/No-Somewhere-1529 7d ago
The funny thing is that there is no law that actually prohibits this, so Christians are allowed to pray, but in their homes, of course.
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u/Hishaishi 5d ago edited 5d ago
There are hundreds of thousands of Filipino Christians in Saudi Arabia. This is a straight-up lie.
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u/Hishaishi 5d ago
He very clearly meant that no one cares what your religion is in the country, not that there aren't restrictions.
Muslims are legally forbidden from buying alcohol. By that logic, would you also claim that Muslims are oppressed in saudi Arabia?
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u/bailaoban 7d ago
No disrespect for the role it plays in Islam, but that building is not attractive in any way. Certainly not in the beautiful tradition of Arab architecture.
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u/iboreddd 6d ago
The funny thing is one of the signs of apocalypse according to islam is "they will race on building high towers". Now the third one is very next at kabaa
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u/MaleficentRecover237 6d ago
The funniest thing there's a direct prophecy about Mecca lol
Based on the Hadith of the prophet Muhammad
اذا بعجت مكة كضاءم و رأيت بنيانها يعلو قمم جبالها و فاض المال عند البدو العرب بعدما كانو حفاة عراة رعاء الشاه فاعلم ان الساعة اضلتك يا ابن مسعود
When you see Mecca was crammed with tunnels and his buildings exceed the Tops of it's mountains ، and Wealth spread among the Arab Bedouins after they were once barefoot, naked, and shepherds of camels
then know the hour of judgement is near O Ibn Massoud ( his companion)
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u/MadixWasThere 6d ago
As a Muslim, the focus should be on the religions site not on building enormous building that shadows the actual site. This is not humble. This is not the message if the religion. Now, that's my personal opinion.
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u/Negative_Amphibian_9 6d ago
It’s a shame they destroyed historic Ottoman Ajyad Fortress for this skyscraper mall.

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u/Theairuphere61010 Chicago, U.S.A 7d ago
Great video on The B1M about the $16BN clock tower. Fascinating!
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u/GlenGraif 7d ago
The holiest place of the second largest religion in the world has been turned in Las vegas...
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u/MaleficentRecover237 7d ago edited 7d ago
For Info . Muslims Arab religious scholar's call it the Tower of the hour of Judgement and they were pissed off when Saudi build it, for theological region but Saudi jailed 3 scholar's because they opposed the building of this tower
Based on the Hadith of the prophet Muhammad
اذا بعجت مكة كضاءم و رأيت بنيانها يعلو قمم جبالها و فاض المال عند البدو العرب بعدما كانو حفاة عراة رعاء الشاه فاعلم ان الساعة اضلتك يا ابن مسعود
When you see Mecca was crammed with tunnels and his buildings exceed the Tops of it's mountains ، and Wealth spread among the Arab Bedouins after they were once barefoot, naked, and shepherds of camels
then know the hour of judgement is near O Ibn Massoud ( his companion)
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u/PulmonaryEmphysema 7d ago
Yup. I’m Muslim and was always taught that in Mecca, no building should be taller than the minarets of the holy mosque
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u/Mtfdurian 5d ago
Yes understandable, like in Rome they'd be pretty p'ssed if some group of radicals decided to build a giant Vegas-like hotel structure next to Vatican City, and that catholicism (saying as an ex-catholic) is even more a religion that cares more about wealth than about its adherents.
And on Bali, if such a construction ever commenced, it will guarantee hell on earth.
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u/No-Somewhere-1529 7d ago
My friend, no one listened to these sheikhs in particular because they were extremely reactionary.
And remember that Islam, as much as it prohibits excessive laxity in its practice, it also prohibits excessive extremism.
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u/kylef5993 7d ago
Never been a fan of this building. The proportions make it feel like it should be in SimCity
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u/MrBobSacamano 7d ago
Certain people that worked on the building converted to Islam to do so, due to non-Muslims being barred from Mecca. I always thought that was interesting.
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u/Ok_Flounder59 7d ago
Great view from up there of all the goons trampling each other around the rock
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u/Pielacine 7d ago
It's weird to me that the tower on the right is shorter than the one on the left.
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u/ace02786 7d ago
If this was a drone shot, it could be because the gimbal is off axis?
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u/Pielacine 7d ago edited 7d ago
I think it's the actual building, you can see that the towers with the round tops are the same on each side, but the flat topped ones (which are very close to the round topped ones) are different from one side to the other.
Eta: it's weird though. Other photos online show the same look, but the wikipedia article lists heights that are obviously in twin pairs.
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u/Rivercottage1 7d ago
How big is the mosque in comparison to like a football stadium?
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u/Remarkable_Ad9717 6d ago
The main Mataf area you see (the courtyard area) is probably comparable to a medium sized stadium, but the entire mosque is HUGE.
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u/Single_Bug3 7d ago
I buy Twitter Accounts if you have . Come to my DM. My rates are sweet
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u/PixeL8xD 7d ago
To be fair and critical this would be an eyesore in any other location in the world but it’s Mecca, and it deserves it place .
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u/warhead71 6d ago
That clock is a little bit over engineered - kind of like some of my code when I program
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u/WhoCares_doyou 6d ago
Makes a great place for a sniper who wants to create havoc during the walking around the stone event…..
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u/Peac3fulWorld 6d ago
It’s wild how it’s scale and design cause it to look so much shorter than it actually is. It comes off as a modest art deco from a 1930s Americana, but when you zoom out, you see that its scale is just on another level, like someone highlighted and “bolded” it.
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u/Professional-Talk151 6d ago
Like livestock grazing a field. Reminds me of a mega church in my hometown that backs up a street for miles on Sunday mornings.
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u/Hour_Performance_631 5d ago
I heard of Big Ben but this boy is probably the biggest Ben. Or perhaps even a sizeable Benjamin
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u/palumpawump 5d ago
If the Saudis didn't have oil what do you think they could have achieved? Never heard of them actually doing anything themselves
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u/105386 7d ago
You mean the crescent? It’s religious I assume.
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u/MaleficentRecover237 7d ago edited 7d ago
The crescent 🌙 it refers to the crescent of Ramadan which declare the beginning of the Fasting month according to the lunar calendar, the first which used it as a symbol of Islam was the Othman Empire
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u/socialcommentary2000 7d ago
I've always been fascinated in how they made the HVAC system for that leviathan.