Colocasia Esculenta

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 Aegean 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:

• Muhammad (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

• List of tourist attractions in Perak

References