Credit: Abraj al Bait Towers by King Eliot licensed under the terms of CC BY-SA 3.0
This week’s crazy building is Abraj al-Bait in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Also called the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower, the building holds multiple world records. At nearly 1,972 feet, it’s the third tallest building in the world and the tallest clock tower on earth. It also has the largest clock faces—all four are 141 feet across, or nearly half the length of a football field! For comparison, Big Ben’s are a “paltry” 23 feet. Finally, the complex has the third largest floor area in the world at nearly 17 million square feet.
But this unique structure is much more than just a clock tower: It houses a five-star hotel, an Islamic museum, a lunar observation center and a 20-story shopping mall.
