Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo, commonly known as Tel Aviv, is a cosmopolitan city on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. As of 2022, it's the country's second-most populous city, home to approximately 470,000 residents and spanning around 51,800 dunams. It borders Bat Yam, Holon, Herzliya, Ramat HaSharon, Ramat Gan, Givatayim, and Bnei Brak.
Tel Aviv is famed for its 14 kilometers of beaches, Mediterranean climate, and vibrant promenades. It is Israel's cultural hub, known for art, leisure, cuisine, and tourism. Recognized as a global city since the 1980s, Tel Aviv’s innovation attracts international visitors, with 1,560,000 overnight hotel stays recorded in 2021.
As the center of the densely populated metropolitan area of Gush Dan, Tel Aviv’s dynamic economy and job market draw many commuters; about 60% of the city's workforce lives outside its limits.
At the early 20th century, Jewish immigration centered around Jaffa's port. Due to overcrowding, in 1906, the Ahuzat Bayit group founded a modern Hebrew neighborhood nearby. On April 11, 1909, 60 families divided land plots by lottery with seashells, establishing what's known as "the first Hebrew city." In 1910, residents named it "Tel Aviv," inspired by Nahum Sokolov’s Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzl’s novel Altneuland ("Old New Land").
During the British Mandate, Tel Aviv expanded significantly, attracting new residents and institutions. It became an independent municipality in 1934. After Israel’s War of Independence in 1949, Tel Aviv and Jaffa merged to form Tel Aviv-Yafo.
Over decades, Tel Aviv expanded north beyond the Yarkon River and east past the Ayalon Highway, developing new residential and commercial areas. Following a decline in the 1970s-80s, the city rebounded in the 1990s due to immigration from the former Soviet Union, reshaping its skyline with modern high-rises.
Efforts to preserve Tel Aviv’s architectural heritage resulted in UNESCO designating its "White City," with over 5,000 Modernist buildings from the 1930s by German-Jewish architects, as a World Heritage Site in 2003.
Today, Tel Aviv consists of about 1,500 streets and vibrant neighborhoods. It prioritizes sustainability and transportation improvements, notably through the Tel Aviv Light Rail project.
Globally, Tel Aviv is renowned for technology, finance, fashion, and design. Known as "the city that never sleeps," it offers multiculturalism, exceptional dining, and lively nightlife, contributing to its reputation as one of the world’s most expensive cities.
The National Library of Israel holds fascinating artifacts from Tel Aviv’s rich history—explore examples below!
