100th anniversary of the Technion in Hadar Carmel

These days the Technion is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of studies at the institution. They started exactly this week in 1924, in the historic building in Hadar Carmel, and this is an excellent reason to expand on its story.

A brief history of the Technion

The story of the Technion begins in 1907, with the decision of Dr. Paul Nathan, founder of the "Aid to the Jews of Germany" company, to establish an institution for higher studies of technological professions in Israel with Zionist motives. In 1908, after a tour of the country, he came to the conclusion that Haifa was the most suitable place for the establishment of the intended institution, whose initial name was Technicum. At the same time, it was decided to establish a high school designed to prepare the future students of the technical school, he The real school.

In 1912, after raising the funds and purchasing the necessary land, the cornerstone laying ceremony for the Technicum building took place. The design of the building was entrusted to the Jewish-German architect Alexander Brewald.

The difficulty in recruiting skilled construction workers, budgetary difficulties resulting from an increase in construction costs and above all the "language war" - surrounding the question "will the language of instruction be German or Hebrew?" - delayed the opening of the institution even though the building was already standing after about two years. In the meantime the First World War broke out (1914), Haifa was occupied first by the German army and then by the British army and both armies used the Technicum building as a military hospital. During these years, the condition of the building and equipment deteriorated and new budgets were required to refurbish the place after the end of the war. the scientist Chaim Weizman, later the first president of Israel, committed himself to the task of raising the necessary funds and indeed succeeded in it.

In 1923 he visited the renovated site Albert Einstein accompanied by his wife. Einstein, who was deeply impressed by the sight of his eyes, agreed to serve as president of the Technicum Board starting in 1924. In honor of the new year, 2 palm trees were planted in the name of the Einstein couple in the garden that stretched in front of the building, trees that still exist today.

The Technicum building

The building is symmetrical, built of stone, three stories high, and consists of five main spaces: a tall and prominent central block, topped by a dome, where the central entrance to the building is located, and two elongated wings on either side, with blocks at the ends that are slightly higher and stand out from the building line. In the central wing, a large arch that rises to the entire height of the building stands out at the entrance to the building. The placement of the building, which was a single house in the area at the time of its construction, was designed so that it would be clearly visible from the modern downtown, and would stand out in relation to the rest of the campus buildings.

The monumental stone building, designed in an eclectic style, surrounded by a spacious garden, was, at the end of 1924, ready for school to begin.  

The beginning of studying at the technical school

Indeed, this week 100 years ago, on December 14, 1924, the first evening classes began at the Technicum, the first university institution in Israel. Regular classes began three weeks later, on January 7, 1925. The first course was for the construction and paving department. The official opening ceremony took place on the 1925th of September 13, XNUMX years after the cornerstone laying ceremony for the Technicum building.

In 1929, the first batch of graduates graduated and 16 students received an engineer certificate, the institution's faculty included 6 teachers. The first faculties were architecture וConstruction. God Technicum changed topolytechnic Only in 1947.

Alexander Brewald, the architect of the Technikum

Alexander Brewald (1877-1930) was born in Berlin. He received his professional training at the Technical University in Charlottenburg (today a suburb of Berlin). In 1910, he was commissioned by the "Ezra" company to design the building that was to be called the Technicum, later The Technion.

During his preparatory visits to Israel, he was deeply impressed by the Arab building tradition, stone construction and typical architectural details such as the pointed arch. These impressions influenced the design of the Technicum building, in which Western building principles were combined with local elements, in what was later called the style the eclectic trying to create architecture Israeli. The Reali school building in Haifa, also designed by Brewald, was designed in the same eclectic style. Brewald immigrated to Israel with his wife in 1925, settled in Haifa, taught at the Faculty of Architecture and was its first dean.

The historic Technion building today

The Technion building in Hadar Carmel was declared a "building for preservation" by the Council for the Preservation of Heritage Sites and the Municipality of Haifa. Beginning in 1983, with the move of the Faculty of Architecture to the Kiryat Technion - the last faculty to move to the new campus - the National Museum of Science and Technology was established in the historical building in Hadar "Technode", after the building was restored and maintained in accordance with Brewald's original plans while making mandatory adjustments.

Since 2006, the name of the museum has been changed to "Medatek" - the National Museum of Science, Technology and Space. The number of visitors to Medatech stands at about 300,000 per year and is expected to continue to rise. The Technion building in Hadar Carmel continues to spread technological knowledge even in its new incarnation, in accordance with his vision.

Dear readers,
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