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Similar Ibn Danan Synagogue, Zaouia Moulay Idriss II, Bou Inania Madrasa, Al‑Attarine Madrasa, Bab Bou Jeloud | ||
Dar al-Magana (Arabic for "clockhouse") is a house in Fes, Morocco, built by the Marinid Sultan Abu Inan Faris which holds a weight-powered water clock. The muwaqqit Abou al-Hassan Ibn Ali Ahmed Tlemsani was responsible for building the clock, which was finished on 6 May 1357. The Dar al-Magana is opposite the Bou Inania Madrasa and connected to this school.
The clock consists of 12 windows and platforms carrying brass bowls. The motion of the clock was presumably maintained by a kind of small cart which ran from left to right behind the twelve doors. At one end, the cart was attached to a rope with a hanging weight; at the other end to a rope with a weight that floated on the surface of a water reservoir that was drained at a regular pace. Each hour one of the doors opened; at the same time a metal ball was dropped into one of the twelve brass bowls. The rafters sticking out of the building above the doors (identical to the rafters of the Bou Inania Madrasa) supported a small roof to shield the doors and bowls.
The bowls have been removed since 2004 and the clock mechanism is being reconstructed by ADER, a foundation for the reconstruction of monuments in Fes.