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עמוד:12
114 Dizengoff addressed Tel Aviv's schoolchildren 1934 gathered on the plaza . The function of the plaza as the "city square" became evident when large events were held there, but such events were rare . Routinely the square served as an access route for municipal clerks and citizens in need of municipality services . Residents of the adjacent houses crossed the plaza on their way to and from their homes . Passers - by, preoccupied with their daily routine, would cross the plaza as part of their daily walking routes . Bialik's death set off the beginning of a process which culminated in the establishment of the ‘Bialik Compound' as an urban culture and historical heritage center . As part of this process the designation of buildings changed as they no longer served their original purpose . In 1937 Mania, Bialik's widow, donated Bialik House to the City of Tel Aviv to serve as a museum in memory of the national poet . Aside from the activities of the Bialik House Association, which were held at the site, the house was dedicated to cultivating and perpetuating Bialik's legacy . Visitors included "young children with their teachers, guests from Israel and tourists from overseas" . 8 In 1962 it was reported that approximately 150 thousand people visited Bialik House each year . 9 In 1959, as Tel Aviv was celebrating its 50 th anniversary, Arie Shenkar passed away . As a sign of mourning "national flags decorated in black were lowered over the deceased's building and the Tel Aviv's municipality building, which stand side by side" . 10 In his solemn speech then mayor Chaim Levanon said : "Tel Aviv is now bidding farewell to one of its finest sons and founders, an honorary citizen of the city and builder of its material and spiritual economy" 11 . Arie Shenkar, who like Bialik and Dizengoff, was childless, dedicated his house as a historical museum of Tel Aviv . Although the location of Tel Aviv's city hall on Bialik Hill was supposed to be temporary, the move to its permanent place of residence was delayed . In a competition was held for designing the new 1947 city square, later to become Kikar Malchei Yisrael today known as Rabin Square ( . The competition ) for designing the new city hall adjacent to the square was held in 1957 . The municipality moved to its new residence in the mid 1960 's . After the municipality offices moved to the new building it was decided that the now vacant old municipality building would function as a youth center . However, due to public criticism it ended up as the Museum of the History of Tel Aviv . In January of 1973 a mosaic by Nahum Gutman depicting the history of Yafo and the construction of the first Hebrew city was placed at the center of the plaza in front of the old municipality building . The combination of the historical museum and Gutman's mosaic emphasized the significance of the place in terms of historical urban heritage . Converting Bialik House into a museum and library and the old municipality building into a museum of the city's history created a direct link between the city's local history and its historical legacy . However, in reality, the district which was the civic center of Tel Aviv in the mid 1920 's was pushed aside to the margins of the Tel Aviv experience . Bialik House and the historical museum in the old municipality building were undergoing a process of decline . Schoolchildren still went on tours in Bialik House, but the area never became a successful focus of attraction for Tel Avivians . The historical museum ceased to function and was later shut down, and the artifacts it had housed were transferred to the Eretz Israel Museum . On a functional level it appears that a daycare center operating in the building situated between Bialik House and Shenkar House had become a center of local activity . Except for rainy days, weekends and holidays, the afternoon hours were the peak of activity on the plaza surrounding Gutman's fountain . At these times it was filled with toddlers playing while their parents watched over them after leaving the daycare center . Early in the day one could hear the sound of the children's voices playing in the backyard of the daycare center, and sometimes even the voices of groups of students visiting the garden in Bialik House . The process of converting Bialik Hill into Bialik Compound was gradual and included functional and architectural upgrading, renovation and rebuilding . The plaza eventually would receive the unofficial title of Bialik Square . Turning the place into an urban attraction necessitated a combination of the ‘discovery' of Bialik Street and the plaza at its end . The urban revival process was financed and supervised by the municipality . The ‘discovery' of the street evinced a significant rise in public interest in the history of Tel Aviv in general, and its architectural history in particular . Bialik Street and the plaza at its end became a favorite destination of tours . Groups with their tour guides gathered around
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פורטוגלי, נילי
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