Hamidiye Fountain with Clock

Built against the outer wall of the eastern cemetery of Çapanoğlu Mosque, facing the marketplace and square, the Hamidiye Fountain with Clock was commissioned to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the accession of Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II. Sources differ on its exact completion date: historian Meltem Cansever dates it to 1899, the Yozgat Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism to 1900, and historian Hakkı Acun to 1901, while its inscription itself reads '1 November 1900.' Its pentagonal body, built of white cut stone reputedly quarried in Azapbaşı village in Sarıkaya district, has five spouts. The façade, divided into three horizontal registers, originally displayed the Ottoman imperial coat of arms — crossed swords, flags, a scale and a star-and-crescent symbolising justice, equality and freedom — a circular clock face set within a niche, sun motifs at the niche's corners, and matching inscriptions on either side. All of this lettering and ornament was chiselled away in 1937; a 2025 restoration, guided by archival photographs, faithfully recreated the historic inscriptions and decorative details. Considered one of the most elaborately ornamented fountains in Anatolia, it functions as a true monumental fountain serving both the mosque cemetery and the market square, and today continues to welcome visitors as an integral part of the Çapanoğlu Mosque complex at the heart of the city's historic centre.