Community House

The first members of the Templer community from Württemberg in southern Germany arrived in the Land of Israel in 1868. Their first ‘colony’ was established in Haifa, where their sophisticated farming methods, tourism, and industry contributed greatly to the development of the city. In modern times, Haifa’s German Colony has become an important historic, cultural and tourist site, with an architectural heritage that arouses considerable interest and remains an important subject of research to this day.

This exhibition is a showcase for artist Ossi Yalon, who has spent several years researching the long-gone community in the Land of the Bible. Her works focus on the stories of members of the community who played an important role in the history of Haifa, and left a rich and fascinating cultural impression on the city. Yalon’s art strives to revitalize the Templers’ way of life, and envisage their day-to-day routine, the cultural and social characteristics of their community, and the view they saw from their windows.

Several figures from the community have been ‘brought back to life’ in the video installation on the first floor, and the Templers’ daily routine comes alive through the windows of Community House (Beit Ha’am).

The House was built in 1869 as a religious, social and cultural center in the heart of the Templer community. The last Templers left the country after Israeli independence, and the purpose and role of the building changed. In the late 1990s, the building was renovated and marked for conservation, and in 2000 became the home of the Haifa City Museum. 

The 25th-year jubilee of the museum provides a unique opportunity to go back in time, to the roots of Community House, and to the people who built it and lived in or around it. The Templers’ legacy is stamped on the DNA of the museum, which perpetuates the role of a community cultural center, and provides an important focus for studying the city’s past and future.

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Yifat Ashkenazi

Curator of the Haifa City Museum