Dizengoff Square or Dizengoff Circus (, fully Zina Dizengoff Square, , ) is an iconic
public square
A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...
in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
, on the corner of
Dizengoff Street, Reines Street, and Pinsker Street. One of the city's main squares, it was built in 1934
and inaugurated in 1938.
Name
Dizengoff Square is named for Zina (''Tzina''), the wife of
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
's first mayor,
Meir Dizengoff
Meir Dizengoff (; born Meer Yankelevich Dizengof, ); 25 February 1861 – 23 September 1936) was a Zionism, Zionist leader and politician and the founder and first Mayor of Tel Aviv, mayor of Tel Aviv (1911–1922 as head of town planning, 1922� ...
. Its original 1930s design was called "the
Étoile of Tel Aviv" due to the form of the square – a
roundabout
A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...
at the intersection of six streets.
History
Early history (1930s–70s)

In 1934,
Genia Averbuch won a competition for the design of a municipal plaza. The square is a circular plaza and has been a focal point of Tel Aviv since its establishment, its location in the very heart of Tel Aviv being one of the reasons.
Redesign (1970s)
In 1978, a split-level configuration was introduced.
The plan was by architect
Tsvi Lissar, of Lissar Architects and City Planners. It was elevated in an effort to ease congestion in the area.
The square was rebuilt using an entirely different design: the square was covered with an elevated pedestrian plaza above Dizengoff Street, Pinsker Street and Reines Street.
The pedestrian area is elevated, connected by
ramps to the adjacent sidewalks and to the pedestrian areas of Ben Ami and Zamenhoff streets, while traffic uses the lower level.
Center and fountain (1980s)
The square stands from
Dizengoff Center, construction of which began in 1972 and was not completed until 1983. A fountain bearing a Glass Statue made by Allen David was erected in the middle of the square during its redesign in the 1970s, and was replaced in 1986 with
Yaacov Agam's now landmark
kinetic sculpture fountain.
The Fire and Water fountain was located in the center of the elevated, second square and will be reinstalled in the third street-level square once work on its core finishes; an underground infrastructure chamber will be built for the Fountain.
Restoration (2010s)
In 2012, the fountain was restored, freshly painted and repaired. In addition, the benches were repainted blue.
Redesign (2016–2018)
In 2016, the Tel Aviv municipality decided to bring the square back to its original design and move it back to street level, causing public controversy.
The works on demolishing the elevated square began on January 8, 2017, and a ground-level road, similar in layout to the underpass under the heightened square, was opened on January 18. At that point, work began on tiling the sidewalk rim and paving a permanent circular road. The circular road, which maintains the second square's traffic directions, was opened – though in an unfinished state – on October 30, with the interchange-style road being closed, and demolished a day later to allow work on the third square's core to begin.
On June 2, 2018, all roadworks on the Third square's circular road were completed: its remaining closed section, running from Reines St. to Dizengoff St., was opened, and the crosswalks were brought closer to the square's core.
The Fire and Water Fountain, Yaacov Agam's artwork representing
kinetic art
Kinetic art is art from any medium that contains movement perceivable by the viewer or that depends on motion for its effects. Canvas paintings that extend the viewer's perspective of the artwork and incorporate multidimensional movement are ...
and
op art, was back in 2019 but the monument was stripped of its colorful, artistic details and technological mechanism. It is an example of destruction of the artwork.
Activity
Audio guided tours around the square were offered by
Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv. Twice a week, a second-hand market took place at the bottom level; it was subsequently moved to Giv'on Square due to the square's reconstruction.
The ''
beth midrash
A ''beth midrash'' (, "house of learning"; : ''batei midrash''), also ''beis medrash'' or ''beit midrash'', is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall". It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth knesseth''), althoug ...
'' (synagogue/study hall) of the
Koidanover Rebbe
A Rebbe () or Admor () is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spirituality (Audio)''. UCTV, 20 Oct 2011. web. ...
, Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Meir Ehrlich, is located in Dizengoff Square. This ''beis medrash'' serves as an
outreach
Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...
center where weekly lectures and a Friday-night ''
Oneg Shabbat'' attract many secular Jews and guide them towards religious observance. The Koidanover Rebbe is well known as an inspiring speaker and educator.
In popular culture
*
Matt Harding chose Dizengoff Square and Agam's fountain to film his worldwide dance,
Where the Hell is Matt?, on June 28, 2007 (the film was released in 2008, and is availabl
here.
Gallery
References
{{Authority control
Squares in Tel Aviv
White City (Tel Aviv)
Modernist architecture in Israel
Landmarks in Tel Aviv