The Rabin Square, formerly Kings of Israel Square, is a large public city square in the center of Tel Aviv. Over the years it has been the site of numerous political rallies, parades, and other public events. In 1995 the square was renamed “Rabin Square” following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by an right-wing extremist and Likud supporter, which occurred there on November 4th of that year, right after a peace rally to celebrate the Oslo I Accord (Arab–Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflict). A memorial stands on the spot where Rabin was assassinated (at the northeast corner of the square, below City Hall). Part of the memorial is a small, open legacy wall for Rabin.
The square is surrounded by the city hall building to the north (designed by the architect Menachem Cohen), Ibn Gabirol Street to the east, Frischmann Street to the south and Hen Boulevard to the west. It was designed alongside the city hall in 1964 by architects Yaski and Alexandroni. Near the south end of the square is a memorial sculpture designed by Israeli artist Yigal Tumarkin commemorating the Holocaust.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s a great deal of criticism had been voiced about the Square’s appearance, most directed at the City Hall building. What in the 1960s was one of the city’s biggest and most impressive architectural designs came to be considered by critics as one of the city’s worst eyesores. Plans have been made (most of which have even been approved) to renovate the whole square and City Hall. These include giving City Hall a more modern look to fit in with the many new skyscrapers in Tel Aviv, and the construction of a large underground parking complex underneath the square to alleviate the lack of parking in the area.
Opposition to the renovation plans mostly centers around arguments that the design of the square and City Hall are part of Tel Aviv’s history and should be preserved. As a result of this opposition, major reconstruction has been delayed. However, in 2010 a minor renovation project was carried out, in which an ecological water pool was constructed near the Holocaust commemorative monument, and around it a deck with a recreational area.
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