- Title: ISRAEL: Tel Aviv celebrates 100th anniversary with a string of cultural events
- Date: 5th April 2009
- Summary: OLD PHOTOS PROJECTED ON HISTORICAL BUILDING, SHOWING HISTORY OF TEL AVIV
- Embargoed: 20th April 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: History
- Reuters ID: LVA878IVRSS96NUMKSQXP6VF6731
- Story Text: Israel's "White City" celebrates its centenary.
The Israeli city of Tel Aviv celebrated on Saturday (April 4) its 100th anniversary in a mass concert held in the city's central square.
Hundreds of people gathered in the square where they watched dance and music performances as flares were being fired above the city's municipal building.
The Tel Aviv municipality website says the city was founded in April 1909 by a group of Jewish residents of the nearby Arab city of Jaffa, who were tired of their harsh living conditions under Ottoman Turkish rule. Sixty families signed up for the new neighbourhood, that was set to be independent of Jaffa city.
The website adds that land was purchased and the plan was to build a wide and green city, unlike the urban density they knew from Jaffa. The land was divided to 60 plots, which were divided to future residents by a 'seashell' lottery, in which families' names were written on 60 white shells, and were drawn out with a plot number.
The name "Tel Aviv" means "Spring Hill" and was taken from the Hebrew title of a utopian novel by Zionist leader Theodor Herzl.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai told Reuters that the existence of city is "a miracle".
"It's a miracle. A hundred years ago, 66 families are leaving the walls of Jaffa, going to the sand dunes, have a lottery by shells for the first plots of the new neighbourhood outside of Jaffa. And today, a centre of metropolis, the centre of Israel, a very vibrant city that was declared by the New York Times as the 'coolest city in the world'", Huldai said.
He added that Tel Aviv is more than a city.
"This city, it's more than a city. It's values. It represents democracy and tolerance and pluralism, art and culture, science and research.
Home for every minority, and also an International city, speaking with the world, exchanging ideas with the world, this is the spirit of this city,"
he said.
During the week preceding the concert on Saturday, the Tel Aviv municipality held a series of cultural events and street parties in the vibrant city.
A resident who attended a street party in Tel Aviv's main boulevard told Reuters that she enjoys living in the city.
"I love Tel Aviv, first of all, it's a beautiful city. It has a lot of action, it's good for young people, for elderly people, for small children. A lot of activities and it's fun to be here and there's always something to do. Never a dull moment," she said.
On Thursday (April 2), actors dressed as new immigrants who came to Tel Aviv in the 1920's and 1930's held street shows re-enacting the first days of the city.
Some of them were shining shoes, while others were using old-fashioned plate cameras to take pictures.
Israeli President Shimon Peres and Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai joined the actors by wearing brimmed hats, symbolising the typical hat worn by first mayor of Tel Aviv, Meir Dizengoff.
One of the people who attended the event was Jorge Broka, Director of International relations of the Barcelona city council. He told Reuters that Tel Aviv has changed a lot since his last visit.
"Well, I think it's a lovely city. I was here twenty years ago, so it has changed a lot but still has this Mediterranean atmosphere and has this nice architecture and nice ambience and people," he said.
About 2 million people live in the greater Tel Aviv area -- around 30 percent of Israelis. Of these, 380,000 live in the city of Tel Aviv, which incorporates the ancient port of Jaffa.
Tel Aviv is largely a secular city and Israel's business capital. The area is home to the Jewish state's main international airport and stock exchange, as well as many of its biggest companies.
It is a tourist destination, boasting some of Israel's priciest beach front hotels and residences, smart restaurants and bars, but also features poorer suburbs populated by new immigrants.
Also dubbed the "White City", Tel Aviv boasts many 1930s Modernist-style buildings inspired by Germany's Bauhaus school and was declared a World Cultural Heritage site by UNESCO. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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