Organised by the Trade and Industry Co, through a private initiative of three businessmen, a small Tel Aviv Fair did attract attention in the 1920s. It all began at the Zionist Club on Rothschild Boulevard and then travelled to several schools, to sell locally manufactured goods to local customers. When they realised they were on to something special, the Trade and Industry Co came up with the idea of establishing a major trade show a la Barcelona.
But it was the hugely successful 1929 Barcelona World Fair that promoted a massive, international effort. After Barcelona finished, large advertising campaigns were launched in Europe that invited business owners to come to Tel Aviv. The response was satisfying and continued growing.
By late 1932, the Tel Aviv Municipality understood they needed to build a proper home for a World Fair. The British Mandate authorities were enthusiastic and allocated 25 acres on the very attractive Yarkon Peninsula at the far end of Tel Aviv. And they extended assistance to the project.
The Levant Fair was planned as the largest public event ever held during the British Mandate period. Beautiful, white Bauhaus buildings, built by German architects who had emigrated in 1933, were beginning to define the city.
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Two of the most prominent architects in the country, Arieh Elhanani and Richard Kaufmann, were chosen to design the new World Fair complex. Kaufmann was in charge of the urban master-plan and Elhanani designed some buildings and the outdoor sculptures. The fairgrounds also featured modern street lamps, benches, well-tended gardens and a main entrance square, Plumer Square.
This Levant Fair was the best model of a white, utopian city with a modernist palace, square, axes and Bauhaus flats. Note the Produce of the Land Palace with its original ship-like facade that became a source of local pride; it was the largest and most important structure of the Levant Fair. Designed by Richard Kaufmann in 1934, it too was in the International or Bauhaus Style. The interior space soared to a height of 3 storeys, with an observation tower situated on one side and an apse on the other. Next to the entrance of the sparkling white facade stretched a large public plaza with Arieh Elhanani’s sculpture.
Manufacturers and consumers flooded into Israel and many exhibited their wares in national pavilions – Britain, Soviet Union, Lebanon, Poland, Bulgaria, France, Cyprus, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, Greece, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Romania, Czechoslovakia etc. The best architects from Israel were recruited to build the pavilions. Each architect was responsible for designing one of the participating countries’ building, giving each pavilion a unique look, within the overall plan. Britain and its colonies had an entire cluster of pavilions, designed by the respected architect, Yosef Neufeld. Genia Averbuch, Aryeh Sharon and others provided Tel Aviv with one of the widest collections of Bauhaus Style architecture.
The ceremony marking the laying of the cornerstone was held in the presence of the British High Commissioners Herbert Samuel, Herbert Plumer, John Chancellor & Arthur Wauchope, plus Tel Aviv mayor Meir Dizengoff and the Arab mayors of Jaffa and Jerusalem. The new fair covered 10 dunams and housed 1,225 exhibitors, including 821 foreign companies from 23 countries. Emerging nations in the Orient were particularly welcomed. And Galina Coffee House, built in the International or Bauhaus Style, was hugely popular.
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So holding an occasional Fair seemed plausible in this growing city of Tel Aviv and another Levant Fair was held in 1936. 30 countries took part, drawing c600,000 visitors in the 6 weeks it was open.
Now it was possible to combine commercial promotion with entertainment and culture; the Tel Aviv Municipality was quick to grasp the importance of the Levant Fair as a strong attraction in pre-State Israel and in the Diaspora. The first concert of the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra started its concert tour in Dec 1936, led by the greatest conductor in Europe, Arturo Toscanini (1867–1957). Golda Meir, David Ben Gurion and every other communal figure in Palestine were at the first concert, held in the Italian Pavilion.
Those were impressive numbers given that the Arab Revolt was about to begin, shutting down Jaffa port. But the fair's organisers suffered financial losses and after the 1936 Fair closed, it stayed closed till after the state was established.
However the spaces were later put to good use. During the Jaffa dock workers’ strike, the British Government approved the construction of a jetty on the Tel Aviv seashore, on a beach just south of the Levant Fair-grounds. Pavilions in the fair grounds were initially used as temporary storage space for the Tel Aviv port, built in 1938. Later, they were appropriated for British Army use, and after 1948, for the Israel Defence Forces.
World Fair facilities all over the world were accidentally or intentionally torn down, except for Melbourne's. Even in Tel Aviv, the pavilions fell apart and the works of art moved. So the Levant Fair project was re-launched in June 2013 at the original location, now offering restaurants, shopping, exhibits, sports activities, playgrounds for children, and performances at the amphitheatre.
But it was the hugely successful 1929 Barcelona World Fair that promoted a massive, international effort. After Barcelona finished, large advertising campaigns were launched in Europe that invited business owners to come to Tel Aviv. The response was satisfying and continued growing.
By late 1932, the Tel Aviv Municipality understood they needed to build a proper home for a World Fair. The British Mandate authorities were enthusiastic and allocated 25 acres on the very attractive Yarkon Peninsula at the far end of Tel Aviv. And they extended assistance to the project.
The Levant Fair was planned as the largest public event ever held during the British Mandate period. Beautiful, white Bauhaus buildings, built by German architects who had emigrated in 1933, were beginning to define the city.
The Italian pavilion
British pavilion
Galina Coffee House
The Norwegian pavilion
This Levant Fair was the best model of a white, utopian city with a modernist palace, square, axes and Bauhaus flats. Note the Produce of the Land Palace with its original ship-like facade that became a source of local pride; it was the largest and most important structure of the Levant Fair. Designed by Richard Kaufmann in 1934, it too was in the International or Bauhaus Style. The interior space soared to a height of 3 storeys, with an observation tower situated on one side and an apse on the other. Next to the entrance of the sparkling white facade stretched a large public plaza with Arieh Elhanani’s sculpture.
Manufacturers and consumers flooded into Israel and many exhibited their wares in national pavilions – Britain, Soviet Union, Lebanon, Poland, Bulgaria, France, Cyprus, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, Greece, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Romania, Czechoslovakia etc. The best architects from Israel were recruited to build the pavilions. Each architect was responsible for designing one of the participating countries’ building, giving each pavilion a unique look, within the overall plan. Britain and its colonies had an entire cluster of pavilions, designed by the respected architect, Yosef Neufeld. Genia Averbuch, Aryeh Sharon and others provided Tel Aviv with one of the widest collections of Bauhaus Style architecture.
The ceremony marking the laying of the cornerstone was held in the presence of the British High Commissioners Herbert Samuel, Herbert Plumer, John Chancellor & Arthur Wauchope, plus Tel Aviv mayor Meir Dizengoff and the Arab mayors of Jaffa and Jerusalem. The new fair covered 10 dunams and housed 1,225 exhibitors, including 821 foreign companies from 23 countries. Emerging nations in the Orient were particularly welcomed. And Galina Coffee House, built in the International or Bauhaus Style, was hugely popular.
Opening day crowds
Now it was possible to combine commercial promotion with entertainment and culture; the Tel Aviv Municipality was quick to grasp the importance of the Levant Fair as a strong attraction in pre-State Israel and in the Diaspora. The first concert of the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra started its concert tour in Dec 1936, led by the greatest conductor in Europe, Arturo Toscanini (1867–1957). Golda Meir, David Ben Gurion and every other communal figure in Palestine were at the first concert, held in the Italian Pavilion.
Those were impressive numbers given that the Arab Revolt was about to begin, shutting down Jaffa port. But the fair's organisers suffered financial losses and after the 1936 Fair closed, it stayed closed till after the state was established.
However the spaces were later put to good use. During the Jaffa dock workers’ strike, the British Government approved the construction of a jetty on the Tel Aviv seashore, on a beach just south of the Levant Fair-grounds. Pavilions in the fair grounds were initially used as temporary storage space for the Tel Aviv port, built in 1938. Later, they were appropriated for British Army use, and after 1948, for the Israel Defence Forces.
World Fair facilities all over the world were accidentally or intentionally torn down, except for Melbourne's. Even in Tel Aviv, the pavilions fell apart and the works of art moved. So the Levant Fair project was re-launched in June 2013 at the original location, now offering restaurants, shopping, exhibits, sports activities, playgrounds for children, and performances at the amphitheatre.