Castle & fortressWallachia & Oltenia

Clock Tower of Giurgiu: the Ottoman watchtower at the town’s heart

The Clock Tower of Giurgiu (Turnul cu ceas) is a 22-metre tower in the centre of Giurgiu, the Romanian port town on the Danube across from Bulgaria. Built by the Ottomans as a watchtower and later turned into a fire lookout and clock tower, it is the symbol of the town and appears on the county emblem.

Locals long whispered of tunnels running from the tower to the old town walls, but when archaeologists dug around its base in the 2000s they found none. They found something else: the lost original clock mechanism.

WhereCentre of Giurgiu, on the Danube, southern Romania

TypeOttoman watchtower (1771) turned fire lookout and clock tower, historic monument

Best forUrban history, Ottoman-era heritage and a short stop on the Danube

Getting thereIn the middle of Giurgiu, about 60 km south of Bucharest, close to the Bulgarian border

The history of the Clock Tower of Giurgiu

Giurgiu stands on the Danube, which forms the border with Bulgaria, and in Ottoman times that position made it a strategic point. According to English-language sources the Ottomans began building the tower in 1770 and finished it in 1771, in the era of the Russo-Austro-Turkish wars, to serve as a military watchtower over the town and the river. No founding document survives. The plan is credited to an unknown European engineer working in the military style of the time. Local speculation that Genoese founders built it, or that it began as a minaret, has been rejected by researchers of the Teohari Antonescu museum. Similar towers were built in lands that are now Bulgaria, Albania and Serbia, but most were later destroyed.

In the first half of the 19th century the tower changed function. A clock was added, and the building took on its present general appearance. In 1836 the town hall approved repairs to the tower, then built largely of stone and wood in the form of a hexagonal pyramid, 22 metres high and about 5 metres across. In the same year it began to be used as a store for firefighting equipment, a first step towards a fire service in the town; in 1837 the rooms around it were occupied by the police. The oldest known picture of the tower is a drawing made in 1837 by the French painter Auguste Raffet, who visited with the scientific expedition of Count Anatole Demidoff. In 1883 the stone tower was repaired and its top raised. The bell lasted until 1885: it was one of three bronze bells of St Nicholas Church cast from cannon captured by the Russians at Silistra in 1829, and it was later melted down and recast larger in Bucharest in the reign of King Carol I.

The tower also shaped the town around it. The Austrian engineer Moritz von Ott, author of the first official town plan of 1832, placed the tower at the centre of his scheme, with a circular square that locals nicknamed “the saucer with linden trees”. Around 1877, as the town grew, planners introduced a star-shaped layout inspired by Paris, with the tower as the centre and the main streets radiating from it. During the First World War, when Giurgiu was occupied, much of the town was burnt, and the upper floors of the tower were lost. The tower was renovated, left without a roof again in 1932, and renovated once more in 1934 by the architect Horia Teodoru. At 22 metres it stayed the tallest building in town until the communist period, when an apartment block surpassed it.

After 1989 the tower was assessed again, and between 2001 and 2007 it was consolidated: the foundation was strengthened, the structure was reinforced with concrete, and the upper part was rebuilt once more. During this work local researchers also tested the old legend of the tunnels beneath the tower, with archaeologists digging around its base. They found none. In 2005, however, workers came across the original clock mechanism, which they had nearly thrown away as rubbish. It is now kept in the Teohari Antonescu museum in Giurgiu. Today the tower is a local landmark in a rebuilt square with cafés and restaurants, and a symbol of the town and county.

Curiosities about the Clock Tower of Giurgiu

The tower is slightly inclined and 22 metres high, which English Wikipedia describes as unique in south-eastern Europe.
The legend of tunnels from the tower to the old town walls was tested during the 2001–2007 works. The excavations found no tunnels.
In 2005 workers found the original clock mechanism and nearly threw it away as rubbish. The gong alone weighs more than 50 kg.
The oldest known picture of the tower is a drawing made in 1837 by Auguste Raffet during the scientific expedition of Count Demidoff.
The tower’s bell was one of three bronze bells of St Nicholas Church in Giurgiu cast from the metal of cannon captured at Silistra in 1829.
The star-shaped street plan of Giurgiu, with the tower at the centre, was modelled on Paris and introduced around 1877; its districts were marked in five colours on town plans.

Tours near Clock Tower of Giurgiu

Experiences in the area that you can book online with Viator:

Private Walking Tour: Essential Bucharest + Hidden Gems

★ 5 (53 reviews) · 2 h

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Contrasts of Communism - Small Group Walking Tour in Bucharest

★ 5 (48 reviews) · 3 h

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Private Tour to Dracula's Castle, Peles Castle from Bucharest

★ 5 (44 reviews) · 12 h

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Bucharest Jewish Heritage | Holocaust Memorial | Private Car Tour

★ 5 (41 reviews) · 4 h

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Visiting the Clock Tower of Giurgiu: what to see

The tower is best seen from the square around it, where its hexagonal base and tall slim body stand out above the surrounding buildings.
Look at the way the main streets radiate from the tower: it is the centre of Giurgiu’s historic star-shaped plan.
The original clock mechanism is displayed in the Teohari Antonescu museum in Giurgiu rather than in the tower itself.
The tower lies about 60 km from Bucharest, so it can be combined with a day trip to the capital. The sources do not say whether the interior can be visited, so check the current opening hours before you go.

Opening hours, access and conditions can change. Check before you go.