The Tel Aviv Port (; ) is a commercial and entertainment district in northwest

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 ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

along the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

History

In 1933, the

Levant Fair The Levant Fair (Hebrew: יריד המזרח; Yarid HaMizrach) was an international trade fair held in Tel Aviv during the 1920s and 1930s. History Early years One of the early precursors to the Levant Fair, an exhibition titled the "Exhibiti ...

was opened next to the waterfront area that would soon become the Tel Aviv Port.

Active port and decline

In the wake of the general strike of the Arabs of

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

at the outbreak of their 1936–39 revolt, an alternative was needed for

Jaffa Port Jaffa Port (, ; , ) is an ancient port situated on the Mediterranean Sea. It is located in Old Jaffa within Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel. The port serves as a fishing harbour, a yacht harbour, and as a tourist destination. It offers a variety of cul ...

The new port, founded by Otzar Mif'alei Yam (lit. "Treasure-of-Sea Works"), opened on a small scale in 1936, and was finally completed and inaugurated at its current size on February 23, 1938. Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am, ''At Tel Aviv Port, once the gateway into the Land of Israel''

Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

, December 19, 2015 The port remained fully operational for less than two years. The outbreak of

the Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising ...

put an end to its civilian use, as the British Navy took over the facilities. After the end of the war in Europe, an attempt to reactivate the port remained unsuccessful due to the lack of shipping at the time. During the civil war between Jews and Arabs from November 1947 and until Israel's declaration of independence in May 1948, as well as in the ensuing

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

, the Jewish, then Israeli forces imported a substantial amount of equipment and weapons via the Tel Aviv port. After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the port operated on a partial basis and was finally closed down on October 25, 1965, when its operations moved to the newly built Ashdod Port. After that followed a period of decay, and by the end of the century the area was used by day as a low-key shopping place for tiles and plumbing supplies, while at night it attracted prostitutes and drug addicts.

'Namal' entertainment area

A change came with the appointment of architect

Orna Angel Orna Angel (; born 29 July 1962) is an Israeli architect and former politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party for one week in February 2006. Biography Born in Jerusalem, Angel studied at the Hebrew University High Sc ...

at the helm of the Marine Trust Company that owns the port area. After completely overhauling the infrastructure by 2002, the administration attracted shop owners to move to the upgraded area by charging token rents. An open competition for the landscaping of the space around the buildings was organised in 2003, and by 2008 the new boardwalk in wavy shapes evocative of the sand dunes that once stood at this place, was opened to the public. As a result of the transformation, the Tel Aviv Port, known in short as the Namal, has become the most popular attraction in Tel Aviv with 4.3 million visitors annually. In 2011, it was announced that the site would be developed to become a major tourist site with recreational and cultural venues similar to

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Awards and recognition

In 2010 the public space development project by Mayslits Kassif Architects, who transformed the space around the restored port buildings, was awarded the Rosa Barba European Landscape Prize, seen as the most prestigious European award for landscape architecture.''Rosa Barba: International Biennial of Landscape Architecture Barcelona''
Landezine – Society for Promotion of Landscape Architecture,

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, October 2, 2010 The project was the winner of a 2003 public competition, at which it was presented by Mayslits Kassif Architects in collaboration with Galila Yavin.''Tel Aviv Port: Mayslits Kassif Architects''
Landezine – Society for Promotion of Landscape Architecture,

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, November 10, 2010

Gallery

File:Tel Aviv Port Lowshot.jpg, Tel Aviv Port from above File:94760 tel aviv port sunset PikiWiki Israel.jpg, Sunset at Tel Aviv port File:Sunset at Tel Aviv port.jpg, Sunset at Tel Aviv port File:The Port of Tel Aviv in Red.JPG, The Port of Tel Aviv in Red File:Tel-Aviv Port (long-exposure HDR).jpg, Tel Aviv Port at night File:PikiWiki Israel 53301 installation i love tel aviv in tel aviv port.jpg, Tel Aviv Port File:Zoltan Kluger. Tel-Aviv Port.jpg, Tel Aviv Port, 1937–1938 File:At Tel Kudadi - WLM 2015 by ovedc 17.jpg, Tel Aviv Port Light with archaeological site of Tel Kudadi

References

External links

official website
Tel Aviv Port website
Tel Aviv Port Public Space Regeneration Project / Mayslits Kassif Architects (presentation, photos, plans)
{{Coord, 32, 5, 47.34, N, 34, 46, 23.71, E, display=title 1938 establishments in Mandatory Palestine 1965 disestablishments in Israel Ports and harbours of Israel Economy of Tel Aviv Geography of Tel Aviv History of Tel Aviv Tourist attractions in Tel Aviv Redeveloped ports and waterfronts