Qualla: Clock Tower of Guayaquil https://qualla.com/clock-tower-of-guayaquil en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:08 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/5/clock-tower-of-guayaquil-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Clock Tower of Guayaquil https://qualla.com/clock-tower-of-guayaquil Clock Tower of Guayaquil: Introduction https://qualla.com/clock-tower-of-guayaquil/ Photo credit JAke Hall, CC BY 2.5. The clock is older than the tower that holds it. In 1842, Ecuadorian businessman Manuel Antonio de Luzarraga loaned the city of Guayaquil enough money to import an English-made clock - and almost from the moment it arrived, the clock has been in motion. It has lived on top of a wooden cabildo building, on the roof of the city's old food market, on a temporary iron tower covered in cement, and finally on the Moorish Tower of 1931 where you can still see it today. Four towers in 89 years. The clock kept working. One architect died before his tower was finished. Another architect ornamented the winning design six years after it opened. The bell rings every hour. Since June 2023, you can climb up and stand next to it.

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Image: JAke Hall | CC BY 2.5

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/5/clock-tower-of-guayaquil-wp/6px5-clock-tower-of-guayaquil-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Clock Tower of Guayaquil: A Jesuit Clock That Had to Leave https://qualla.com/clock-tower-of-guayaquil/ Photo credit Diego Tirira from Quito, Ecuador, CC BY-SA 2.0. There had been clock towers in Guayaquil before the English clock arrived. The first was built sometime in the mid-eighteenth century by the Society of Jesus, as part of the monastery and school of San Francisco Javier founded in 1705. That tower - and its Jesuit makers - did not...

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Image: Diego Tirira from Quito, Ecuador | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/5/clock-tower-of-guayaquil-wp/6px5-clock-tower-of-guayaquil-a-jesuit-clock-that-had-to-leave.mp3 0:06 2 full Clock Tower of Guayaquil: Luzarraga's Loan https://qualla.com/clock-tower-of-guayaquil/ Photo credit Arabsalam, CC BY-SA 4.0. Guayaquil in the 1830s was broke. Magistrate Juan de Aviles requested in 1837 that the city buy a new clock; the funds were considered too expensive, and nothing happened for five years. The solution, when it came, was financial rather than political. The House of Luzarraga - one...

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Image: Arabsalam | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/5/clock-tower-of-guayaquil-wp/6px5-clock-tower-of-guayaquil-luzarragas-loan.mp3 0:06 3 full Clock Tower of Guayaquil: The Fire Scare and the Move https://qualla.com/clock-tower-of-guayaquil/ Photo credit Arabsalam, CC BY-SA 4.0. In the late nineteenth century Guayaquil fell prey to a widespread belief that tall buildings encouraged the spread of fires - a not-unreasonable fear in a city that had burned repeatedly. The clock came down, the tower on the Cabildo roof was dismantled, and in 1905 the clock wa...

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Image: Arabsalam | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/5/clock-tower-of-guayaquil-wp/6px5-clock-tower-of-guayaquil-the-fire-scare-and-the-move.mp3 0:06 4 full Clock Tower of Guayaquil: An Iron Tower and a Dead Architect https://qualla.com/clock-tower-of-guayaquil/ Photo credit Erickmacr, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1920 the city finally decided the clock deserved its own monument. A standalone site was chosen on Malecon street, and on June 6, 1921, the city contracted construction of an iron tower covered in cement. The project was estimated at 10,000 sucres. The architect was Nicolas Vi...

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Image: Erickmacr | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/5/clock-tower-of-guayaquil-wp/6px5-clock-tower-of-guayaquil-an-iron-tower-and-a-dead-architect.mp3 0:06 5 full Clock Tower of Guayaquil: The Moorish Tower https://qualla.com/clock-tower-of-guayaquil/ Photo credit Freddy eduardo, CC BY-SA 4.0. The fourth tower is the one still standing. In 1930, Miguel Angel Garbo, president of the Municipal Council, ordered construction of what became known as the Torre Morisca - the Moorish Tower - designed by engineer Francisco Ramon and architect J. Perez Nin y Landin. Construction...

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Image: Freddy eduardo | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/5/clock-tower-of-guayaquil-wp/6px5-clock-tower-of-guayaquil-the-moorish-tower.mp3 0:06 6 full