Makkah Province | Saudi Arabia | Asia

Abraj Al Bait Towers

the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower

ABOUT Abraj Al Bait Towers

The Abraj Al-Bait (Arabic: أبراج البيت‎, romanized: ʾAbrāǧ al-Bayt "Towers of the House") is a government-owned complex of seven skyscraper hotels in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. These towers are a part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment Project that aims to modernize the city in catering to its pilgrims. The central hotel tower, the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, has the world's largest clock face and is the third-tallest building and fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the world. The clock tower contains the Clock Tower Museum that occupies the top four floors of the tower.

The building complex is metres 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. It is the world's second most expensive building, with the total cost of construction totalling US$15 billion, the first being the Great Mosque of Mecca. 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 international outcry and a strong response from Turkey.

The Best Pictures of Abraj Al Bait Towers