Imagine watching nature itself tick away the seconds. We are standing in front of Dar al-Magana. This 14th-century building houses a weight-powered water clock. Dar al-Magana means “House of the Clock” in Arabic. Sultan Abu Inan Faris of the Marinid dynasty built it in Fes.
Dar al-Magana is opposite the Bou Inania Madrasa on Tala’a Kebira street. It was built to serve the madrasa and its mosque. Abu Inan also built the mosque around the same time. Some people call it the “House of Maimonides”. A legend says that the famous Jewish philosopher Maimonides once lived here.
The clock was part of a charitable complex around the Bou Inania Madrasa. Construction of the madrasa began in 1350 and finished in 1355. The water clock was completed on May 6, 1357. Al-Jazna’i was a historical chronicler. He noted this date. Abu al-Hassan ibn Ali Ahmed el-Tlemsani designed the clock. He was a muwaqqit. This clock may be similar to an earlier one. Sultan Abu Said built that clock in 1317 for the Qarawiyyin Mosque.
The Dar al-Magana clock has twelve windows and platforms. Brass bowls sat on these platforms. A small cart likely moved behind the doors. It ran from left to right. One end of the cart had a rope with a hanging weight. The other end had a rope with a weight. This weight floated on water in a reservoir. The reservoir drained at a steady rate. Each hour, one of the doors opened. At the same time, a metal ball dropped into one of the brass bowls. Rafters stick out above the doors like those on the Bou Inania Madrasa. They supported a small roof. This roof shielded the doors and bowls. The building’s facade features carved stucco around the windows. Sculpted arabesque and epigraphic motifs decorate the wooden rafters and corbels.
Sadly, the clock hasn’t worked for generations. There’s a lack of documentation about how it functioned. This has made repairs difficult. The bowls were removed in 2004. The goal was to repair or reconstruct the mechanism. ADER-Fes managed the project. It has been unsuccessful so far. However, the house’s structure and facade were restored in the early 2000s.
The Dar al-Magana Water Clock is one of the oldest water clocks in the world. The clock relies on the flow of water to keep time. Back then, it regulated the city’s public water supply. Water trickles down from a reservoir into a series of bowls. Each bowl is marked with Arabic numerals. As the bowls fill up, they tip over. Then, a bell chimes. This marks the passage of time. The word “magana” means “clepsydra” in Arabic. Clepsydra refers to a water clock.
The Dar al-Magana Water Clock stands as a testament to the ingenuity of the past. It is a reminder that time, like water, is always flowing.