Israel tourism and travel guide 

Tel Aviv - Sarona Complex

The Sarona Complex is one of the most central entertainment, business, culture, shopping and leisure centers in Tel-Aviv-Yafo, as the complex combines 19th century historical buildings and modern building with innovative and original architectural and designed elements.

The complex originates from the colony Sarona, founded in 1871; it is one of the first colonies established by the German Templers in Israel.

The Templers were a Protestant religious movement founded in south Germany, mid-19th century. The founder and spiritual Father of the movement, Christoph Hoffmann, aspired to prepare the ground for the second coming of Jesus Christ and bring about salvation, according to Christian belief. According to Templer faith, salvation can only be achieved through hard work and living in the Holy Land, where they sought to establish a model of idealistic life through the establishment of productive villages. Due to this, during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, several thousand Templers settled in several colonies that were established throughout the land of Israel, where they engaged in agriculture, crafts and commerce, and led a rich community life while maintaining good neighborly relations with Arabs and Jews.

During World War II and the Holocaust, the German settlers felt rather unwanted in the land of Israel and gradually returned back to Germany and Austria.

After the establishment of the State of Israel, the German colony turned into a complex, housing government and military offices in the unique Templer buildings that gradually decayed over the years.

After decades, under the pressure of eco-friendly organizations, it was decided to evacuate the government and military offices from the complex and preserve and restore the old colony buildings. After several years of restoration and preservation work, the new complex was opened in 2014. It includes dozens of restaurants, boutique shops and museums that are all housed in the restored Templer buildings: the community center, the winery, the post office, the olive press and dozens of other restored and unique residential buildings.

The complex is located in the city center, next to Ha-Shalom interchange on the Ayalon highway. There are several large parking lots located close to the complex where it’s possible to park our car.