Tel Aviv – The City of Countless Myths

Due to its history, founding myths and urban development Tel Aviv is a city of three faces. It is a White City of Bauhaus buildings that characterizes a modern and secular capital, which in 2003 was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of an architectural phenomenon on a global scale; it is a vibrant metropolis that never sleeps – „Tel Aviv – non-stop city”. This slogan was invented by an advertising agency in 1989 and almost immediately became an everyday catchphrase, containing a succinct and overly apt characterization of the city. At the level of a myth, the city that never sleeps was supposed to be dynamic, hedonistic, elegant and decidedly secular. Nightlife is a fundamental part of the urban anatomy and thus distinguishes Tel Aviv from other Israeli cities. Nevertheless, Tel Aviv is the first and foremost a Hebrew City. Founded in 1909 as Jaffa’s neighbourhood and declared a city in 1934, Tel Aviv was in fact the first Jewish city built as part of the national revival and Zionist settlement project.