Safra Square

The square was named for the Syrian-Jewish banker Jacob Safra (1891–1963) and his wife Esther, parents of Edmond J. Safra. Edmond Safra (1932–1999), a philanthropist, has been one of the leading contributors to the fund, which re-built the area of downtown Jerusalem. ==Location==

The Municipality buildings around Safra Square create a triangular compound, facing the north-west/south-east running Jaffa Road and bordered on the east by the Shivtei Yisrael ("Tribes of Israel") Street. The wedge-shaped compound is located at the eastern end of Jaffa Road and is pointing towards Tzahal Square and the walls of the Old City. Some of the historic buildings of the Russian Compound were restored and incorporated into the municipal complex, while the others, grouped around the Holy Trinity Cathedral, are closing the triangle from the north-west. ==History==

-period Jerusalem City Hall, 1939 The British Mandate-period Town Hall was built in 1930. Today it forms the eastern tip of the compound. As the city grew, along with the need to provide more modern and diverse services to an expanding and equally diverse population, the city government's offices expanded as well, and were spread throughout the city. The decentralized municipal government decreased in efficiency, and it was decided that a single building was needed to house Jerusalem's local government. After lengthy deliberations, the current location was selected, despite the challenge of preserving the large number of historic and culturally significant 19th-century buildings. The Canadian Jewish architect Jack Diamond and the Israeli architectural firm of Kolker, Kolker, and Epstein were selected to design a project for a unified Jerusalem Municipality complex, consisting of three new buildings, to be integrated with an existing ten buildings to form a cohesive, unified site. ==Buildings and plaza==

The complex was planned in the 1980s to contain three new buildings and to integrate ten older ones. • No. 1. Main new, six-story building. Mayor's office, city council hall, and model of old/new Jerusalem. The 1900s plan included city management and treasury's public reception halls, city engineer offices, department for city improvement, and an automation company. No. 5 houses the offices of the coalition parties and the mayor's consultants; building No. 6 is used by the plaza management and for commercial uses. had the first elevator in Jerusalem. was used during the 1948 War for wounded Israeli soldiers, which led to the Hebrew nickname of Avi-Hayil or Avichail, 'father of the soldiers'. Used in the 1990s as a laboratory for the Ministry of Health and for Hadassah Medical Center, with the city council parties using the top floor. The pre-1998 plan was to renovate it, tear down the adjoining building, and build a new office building to be used by the municipal Gihon company (Jerusalem area's water and wastewater operator). It now houses municipal offices. The plaza is used for gatherings and shows. It includes: • The Stage Building at the eastern side of the plaza, with an elevated platform and dressing rooms underneath. • The pergola at the southern part of the plaza, functioning as a "transparent passage" to the Triangular Garden and towards IDF Square (Hebrew: ככר צה"ל, Kikar Tzahal), built over concrete pillars bearing stone flowerpots. • The Triangular Garden between buildings No. 3, 4 and the pergola, paved with red bricks. Restaurants and coffeehouses were planned for the site. • The Daniel Garden, named after former mayor Daniel Auster. ==Decoration and public art==

The steps leading up to the complex from Jaffa Road are lined with 48 palm trees, hence the name Palm Plaza (Hebrew: רחבת דקלים). Several statues of lions, the symbol of Jerusalem, also adorn the square. At the entrance of the complex stands the Daniel Garden, named for Jerusalem mayor Daniel Auster (in office 1937–38). The garden contains several works of art: a sculpture based on a large, working Archimedes' screw that carries water up from a small pool, titled "Modern Head"; a sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein donated in memory of assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin; and "The Binding of Isaac" by Jerusalem sculptor Avraham Ofek. at Safra Square, 2009 In 2007 Safra Square hosted an exhibition of the United Buddy Bears, 138 two-metre tall bear sculptures, each designed by a different artist. ==See also==