PhotosLocation


Birch_Memorial_Clock_Tower Latitude and Longitude:

4°35′48.6″N 101°04′34.0″E / 4.596833°N 101.076111°E / 4.596833; 101.076111
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birch Memorial Clock Tower
Menara Jam Peringatan Birch
General information
Type clock tower
Location Ipoh, Kinta, Perak, Malaysia
Coordinates 4°35′48.6″N 101°04′34.0″E / 4.596833°N 101.076111°E / 4.596833; 101.076111
Opened1909

The Birch Memorial Clock Tower ( Malay: Menara Jam Peringatan Birch) is a clock tower in Ipoh, Kinta District, Perak, Malaysia. [1] [2]

History

The clock tower was constructed to commemorate James W. W. Birch, the first British Resident of the state of Perak and unveiled on 8 December 1909 at a cost of $25,000.

Architecture

The clock tower is located in a square and originally held a bronze, portrait bust of J. W. W. Birch in a niche, since removed. Four panels illustrate the growth of civilization designed by Messrs. Doulton and Co. of London. It has a mother bell and four smaller bells which used to strike the chimes supplied by Messrs. Gillet and Johnson, Croydon. Above the clock are four statues at each corner representing the cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. [1] [3]

The growth of civilization

There are four panels each one of the depicting the exponents of the different stages of civilization: [4]

Panel A (North)

The Stone Age:

A Hunter, A Fisherman, A Woman spinning.

The Iron Age:

A man and a woman

The Early Eastern Peoples :

A Nubian with gold and ivory, A Chaldean Astrologer, A Woman making pottery, An Egyptian, An Assyrian, A Persian.

Panel B (West)

The Eastern Mediterranean:

Moses, David, A Phoenician, A woman representing the Agean civilization.

The Far East:

Confucius, Buddha, Lao Tzu.

Greece and Rome:

A woman representing Greek Art, Alexander the Great, Plato, Augustus.

Panel C (South)

The Byzantine Empire:

Constantine the Great.

Islam:

Mohammed (Removed because Islam prohibits visual depictions of the Prophet Mohammed). [1] [5]

The Age of Chivalry:

A Crusader.

The Age of Faith:

Saint Clare of Assisi

Gothic Art:

Saint Thomas Aquinas

The Renaissance:

Galileo Galilei, Michelangelo, Vittoria Colonna, Columbus.

The Reformation:

Martin Luther.

The Elizabethan Age:

William Shakespeare.

Panel D (East)

Modern Science, Art and Social Services:

Isaac Newton, William Harvey, James Watt, An unnamed Embroiderer, Beethoven, Robert Stephenson, Louis Daguerre, Florence Nightingale, Charles Darwin, Thomas Alva Edison, Joseph Lister.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Birch Memorial Clock Tower, Ipoh". perak.info. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
  2. ^ "www.mbi.gov.my/en/web/guest/menara-peringatan-birch;jsessionid=660967965CC38F830F4AEF84DDC13447". Archived from the original on 2015-11-22.
  3. ^ "Birch Memorial. SIR JOHN ANDERSON WELCOMED AT IPOH. Description of the Clock Tower". The Straits Budget: 5. 9 December 1909.
  4. ^ "J W W Birch Memorial Clock Tower And First Times Of Malaya Building, Ipoh" (PDF).
  5. ^ "Birch Memorial Clock Tower". Lonelyplanet.com.