The Ibn Batuta Mall in Dubai is in a lot of ways an average mall.

It's the largest mall in Dubai, so it's a bit bigger and fancier than most malls.

But it still has a lot of normal mall stuff in it.

There's a broken stock store, there's a footlocker, a gap, an H&M, Sephora, you know, mall stuff.

But there is one thing about it that is distinctly unlike any mall you've ever been to.

We're going to have to address the elephant in the room.

Because sitting in the courtyards of this mall, between the normal stores,

are some of the most incredible replicas of Islamic golden age inventions found anywhere in the world.

These recreations of ancient robots.

And one of those replicas, one that towers over you, is this massive elephant clock.

It's not just any elephant clock, but one based on a clock designed centuries ago by the Muslim inventor Ishmael Al-Jazari.

The original was about 5 feet tall. The replica, yeah, it's about 25 feet tall.

It's called the elephant clock. Well, because it's an elephant, obviously.

But the clock part is a little bit less apparent.

It has no clock face, no numbers, no minute or hour hands.

But it's still a clock. It just doesn't tell you the time.

Instead, the elephant clock remembers time. It tracks the passing of time.

But if you sit down next to it, and you listen carefully,

the elephant clock will tell you its secrets.

I'm Dolan Theras, and this is Atlas Obscura.

A celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

Today, we are going to the Ibn Batuta Mall in Dubai.

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