Kiryat HaYovel

Kiryat HaYovel (Hebrew קריית היובל) is a neighborhood in southwestern Jerusalem on Mount 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, between Ramat Denya and Kiryat Menachem.

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 Fund.

The need for housing was so urgent that a British mandatory ordinance requiring that all buildings in Jerusalem be faced with Jerusalem stone 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.

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. In 2002, it was described as a blue-collar neighborhood.

On March 29, 2002, Ayat al-Akhras, an 18-year-old Palestinian, blew herself up at the entrance of Kiryat HaYovel's main supermarket, killing two people and injuring 28.

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.

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Wikipedia