Local information/Culture and Sports

From Wikimania 2011 • Haifa, Israel

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Culture, Tourism and Leisure

The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art
Israel National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space in Hadar

Haifa has 13 hotels with a total of 1,462 rooms. The city is a coast city with 17 kilometers of beaches.

Haifa's main tourist attraction is the Bahá'í World Centre, with the golden-domed Shrine of the Báb and the surrounding gardens. Between 2005 and 2006, 86,037 visited the shrine. The restored German Colony, founded by the Templers, the Stella Maris Monastery and Elijah's Cave also draw many tourists as well as great warm swimming beaches (May-October) and surfing and windsurfing, Bat Galim beach.

Located in the Haifa district are the Ein Hod artists' colony, where over 90 artists and craftsmen have studios and exhibitions, the Mount Carmel national park, with caves where Neanderthal and early Homo Sapiens remains were found. Also nearby are the Druze villages where a majority of the Druze population in Israel is located.

Despite its image as a port and industrial city, Haifa is the cultural hub of northern Israel. The Haifa Cinematheque, founded in 1975, hosts the annual Haifa International Film Festival during the intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday.

The most popular museum is the Israel National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space, which recorded almost 150,000 visitors in 2004. The museum is located in the historic Technion building in the Hadar neighborhood. The Haifa Museum of Art houses a collection of modern and classical art, as well as displays on the history of Haifa. The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art is the only museum in the Middle East dedicated solely to Japanese art.

Other museums in Haifa include the Museum of Prehistory, the National Maritime Museum, the Hecht Museum, the Dagon Archaeological Museum, the Railway Museum, the Clandestine Immigration and Navy Museum, the Oil Industry Museum, and the Mane Katz Museum.

Sports

Kiryat Eliezer Stadium

The city's two main football clubs are Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Haifa who both currently play in the Israeli Premier League and share the Kiryat Eliezer Stadium as their home pitch.

Haifa has a professional basketball club, Maccabi Haifa.

See also