The Golem, Public playground in Kiryat Hayovel neighborhood, Jerusalem, Israel
The Golem is a concrete sculpture in Kiryat Hayovel that features a large mouth with three slide-shaped tongues protruding from it. A spiral staircase winds upward through different levels of the structure.
French artist Niki de Saint Phalle created this structure in the early 1970s as part of a project to enliven the neighborhood. The work arose during a period of bold artistic experimentation with public spaces.
The sculpture represents a maternal figure with an internal dark space symbolizing a womb, reflecting themes of birth and female strength through its design.
The sculpture stands at ground level behind a low stone wall along the road leading to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital, near the Kiryat Hayovel tram stop. The garden was renovated in 2014 to make it safer and more accessible, and reopened in 2022 after the adjacent high-rise complex was finished. In 2025 the sand surface was replaced with sand-coloured rubber.
The sculpture measures 9 × 14 × 16 m and has two floors; Teddy Kollek inaugurated it by sliding down himself but, according to former Israel Museum director Martin Weyl, never managed to climb back to the upper level because of the crowd of children.
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