Atlas Obscura’s Israel Week is in partnership with Go Israel.com, your guide to Israel’s beautiful destinations and its many hidden wonders!
Detail of the Bauhaus Museum, Tel Aviv (photograph by BergA/Wikimedia)
The immigration of Europeans fleeing the Nazis to Tel Aviv in the 1930s just happened to coincide with one of the most experimental architecture movements of the 20th century. The Israeli city now has over 4,000 examples of Bauhaus or International style buildings constructed between the 1930s and 40s.
In the Bauhaus architecture, symmetry is less important than style, white was used to reflect the sunlight and give the structures a simplicity, and ideas from architects like Le Corbusier on proportions were brought into these studies in function. In this way Tel Aviv has its alternate name — the White City.
The whole of the White City was recognized in 2003 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, and local organizations like the Bauhaus Center and the new Bauhaus Museum pay tribute to this architectural legacy. But much of the beauty of Bauhaus can be appreciated visually just with a stroll through the city.
Here are a few highlights:
Rabinsky House
photograph by Degser/Wikimedia
photograph by Deror avi/Wikimedia
via Wikimedia
Cinema Hotel
photograph by Robinbagon/Wikimedia
photograph by Robinbagon/Wikimedia
photograph by Robinbagon/Wikimedia
181 HaYarkon 18
photograph by Brian Jeffery Beggerly
photograph by Sagie/Flickr user
photograph by Sagie/Flickr user
Hechal Yehuda Synagogue
photograph by Avishai Teicher
photograph by Avishai Teicher
Dizengoff Square
photograph by Itaifortis/Wikimedia
via Wikimedia
photograph by Robinbagon/Wikimedia
Atlas Obscura’s Israel Week is in partnership with Go Israel.com, your guide to Israel’s beautiful destinations and its many hidden wonders!
