Barzan Towers

This guide to the Barzan Towers north of Doha follows the watchmen who, twice a year for more than a century, climbed the tower's exposed outdoor staircase to search the sky for the new Ramadan crescent moon. It traces the towers' building in the late 1800s and rebuilding around 1910 under Sheikh Mohammed bin Jassim Al Thani, and the other jobs their height served, watching for Ottoman patrols and pearl divers offshore. Stand on the stair's top step and feel how exposed it leaves you against the open sky.