Tel Aviv Founders Memorial, Memorial stele on Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv, Israel
The Tel Aviv Founders Memorial is a monument on the central median of Rothschild Boulevard, facing Dizengoff House. It consists of a stone stele engraved with the names of the city's founders on its western side, a bronze relief by Aharon Priver on its eastern side, and a fountain pool at its front. The relief depicts three stages of the city's development, and the original city emblem by Nachum Gutman appears on the northern side.
The monument was erected in 1949, forty years after the founding of Achuzat Bayit, at the spot where Akiva Aryeh Weiss held the 1909 land lottery. It was inaugurated on 23 March 1951 by mayor Israel Rokach, on Meir Dizengoff's 90th birthday. The bronze relief on its eastern side was made by the sculptor Aharon Priver.
The monument's north side bears Tel Aviv's original coat of arms, designed by Nachum Gutman, showing a lighthouse with an open gate in its base. Gutman, who was eleven when his family drew a plot in the 1909 lottery, explained the emblem as the founders' aim that Tel Aviv be a gate for immigrants and a light for the nations. The central strip around it is called Kikar HaMeyasdim, Founders Square, though a sign marking the name was put up only in 2005.
The memorial stands on the central median of Sderot Rothschild, facing Dizengoff House, near the Nachalat Binyamin junction. It is reached on foot along the boulevard; the surrounding streets are served by bus lines. The monument is part of the Independence Trail, which runs from the city's 1909 founding to the 1948 declaration.
The monument stands where the 1909 land lottery was held: 66 families each drew a stone bearing a plot number on the sand dune of Karam Sheikh Jibali. The first well of Ahuzat Bayit was dug at this same spot, and a water tower later served as the first town hall until 1925.
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