Kiryat Yovel
Encyclopedia
Mount Herzl
Mount Herzl , also Har HaZikaron , is the national cemetery of Israel on the west side of Jerusalem. It is named for Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism. Herzl's tomb lies at the top of the hill. Yad Vashem, which commemorates the Holocaust, lies to the west of Mt. Herzl....
. It was built in the early 1950s to house new immigrants. Today, Kiryat HaYovel has a population of 25,000 residents.
Kiryat HaYovel is located on the main road to Hadassah Hospital, Ein Kerem
Ein Kerem
Ein Kerem , lit. “Spring of the Vineyard”, and - ‘Ein Kārem), is an ancient village of the Jerusalem District and now a neighbourhood in southwest of Jerusalem. According to Christian tradition, John the Baptist was born in Ein Kerem, leading to the establishment of many churches and monasteries....
, between Ramat Denya
Ramat Denya
Ramat Denya is a neighborhood in southwest Jerusalem, Israel. It was established in 1970 between Kiryat Hayovel and Bayit Vegan, 780 meters above sea level...
and Kiryat Menachem
Kiryat Menachem
Kiryat Menachem is a neighborhood in southwest Jerusalem, Israel, bordering Kiryat Hayovel. Kiryat Menachem was founded in 1956 to provide housing for the masses of new immigrants who arrived after the establishment of the State of Israel. The neighborhood is named for American Zionist leader Max...
.
History
Kiryat HaYovel was established in the 1952 to house thousands of Jews from Arab countries who fled their homes when the State of Israel was declared. In the early days it was a tent city, as public housing projects, called shikunim, were hastily built to accommodate them. Before 1948, the area was known as Beit Mazmil. It was renamed Kiryat Hayovel (Jubilee Town) to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Jewish National FundJewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
.
The need for housing was so urgent that a British mandatory ordinance requiring that all buildings in Jerusalem be faced with Jerusalem stone
Jerusalem stone
Jerusalem stone is a name applied to various types of pale limestone, dolomite and dolomitic limestone, common in and around Jerusalem that have been used in building since ancient times...
was waived in Kiryat Hayovel. Functional architecture, with flat roofs, stucco facades and no ornamentation, was characteristic of early construction in the neighborhood, and many examples remain until today.
Demographics
The neighborhood's immigrant population was gradually supplemented with young couples. In the 1960s, they were joined by teachers and professors, offsetting the proletarian character of the neighborhood and creating more upscale sections, such as the large private homes lining Shmaryahu Levin Street.Terrorist incidents
On March 29, 2002, Ayat al-AkhrasAyat al-Akhras
Ayat al-Akhras was the third and youngest Palestinian female suicide bomber who, at age 18 , killed herself and two Israeli civilians on March 29, 2002 by detonating explosives belted to her body...
, an 18-year-old Palestinian, blew herself up at the entrance of Kiryat HaYovel's main supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
, killing two people and injuring 28.
Culture
Kiryat HaYovel has a commercial center, a community center, three public swimming pools and a library.The neighborhood's claim to fame is "The Golem", a whimsical playground sculpture set in Rabinovich Park. Commonly called "The Monster" (Hamifletzet in Hebrew), the sculpture's three red tongues serve as slides. The Golem was designed by the French sculptor Niki de Saint-Phalle.
Many of the streets in Kiryat HaYovel are named for countries in Latin America.