Business
Tale of Two cities- Mumbai and Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV(NIBEDITA )– The poetic geography of Israel was not a single event but rather a process that started in 19th century and being continued to these days, said Prof Juval Portugali on Thursday in a symposium at India Cultural Center.
While celebrating the 30 years of friendship between two nations- India and Israel, Portugali drew the similarities in the buildings and sorority of the cities- Mumbai and TelAviv.
For an untrained eye, the cities of Mumbai and Tel Aviv may seem a world apart. But, the two cities share not just age-old people to people relations but also surprising similarities on the architectural front too.
In the 1930’s, a new architectural development took place both in Tel Aviv and Mumbai. The urban image of the city transformed into a modernist weave of new city fabric, with neatly laid out plots, uniform footprints and building heights, punctuated by skyline dominating facades of new building typologies.
This exhibition is a way of acknowledging the sorority of cities that shared an architecture of self-similarity, Art Deco in Mumbai and the Bauhaus Style in Tel Aviv. These are evident in cinemas, residential buildings, sacred spaces and more.
Through a series of striking photographs, viewers can see these similarities and contrasts between the ‘White City’ a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tel Aviv, and The Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mumbai.
There were lectures on poetic wisdom and the city Dr. Juval Portugali from Jerusalem, Israeli Gandhigiri in the land of Bapu by Arch. Sharon Rotbard,Architecture in Bombay during British Raj by Prof. Shaul Sapir, Bauhaus and International style by Prof. Solomon Benjamin from IIT Madras and Prof Michael Levin.
The Consulate General of Israel in Mumbai and Art Deco Mumbai Trust in collaboration with the JJ College of Architecture have put up an interesting exhibition on the architectural styles of Mumbai and Tel Aviv was also held on Thursday in the Bauhaus Center in Tel Aviv.
Picture: 1. Professor Solomon Benjamin from IIT Madras giving lecture at India Cultural Center Tel Aviv.
- The exhibition inaugurated by H.E. Sanjeev Singla, Ambassador of India to Israel and will be on display for 30 days.