Impressions from the "World Capital of Modernism"
In the Year of Jewish Culture in Saxony, the University Library at Chemnitz University of Technology will be hosting an exhibition on monument preservation in Tel Aviv's "White City" from February 25, 2026
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The term "White City" refers to a collection of around 4,000 buildings in Tel Aviv, most of which were built in the International Style and Bauhaus style. Photo: Christian Vogel
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the University Library at Chemnitz University of Technology invite you to a special exhibition in the Year of Jewish Culture in Saxony (TACHELES 2026): From February 25 to April 6, 2026, an exhibition on monument preservation in the “White City” in Tel Aviv will be on display on the first floor of the University Library, Straße der Nationen 33. The exhibition has been curated by the Leipzig Art Foundation in collaboration with the Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv to mark the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus.
This project connects many aspects of Chemnitz with the Year of Jewish Culture in Saxony and the immigration of Jewish architects to the British Mandate of Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s. At that time, renowned young architects transported and adapted the “International Style” from the Bauhaus school, which was considered degenerate by the National Socialists, to the Middle East. In Tel Aviv, the “White City,” which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003, a number of remarkable modernist residential buildings were constructed. Some of these will be presented in the exhibition. The exhibition also addresses the issue of monument preservation in Tel Aviv, one of the most expensive cities in the world, where every square meter of building land is highly competitive.
“Since Chemnitz has a very special gem of this era and style in the form of the Schocken department store, built by Erich Mendelsohn in 1930, and since aspects of historic preservation also played a very decisive role here, Chemnitz has a truly unique connection to the international style in Israel, particularly through the Schocken,” says Christian Vogel from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Chemnitz University of Technology, who brought the exhibition to the university together with Stephan Luther from the university archives.
Program note: An introduction to the exhibition will be held on February 25, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. in the university library by Leipzig art historian Dr. Wolfgang Hocquél.
For further information, please contact Christian Vogel, phone 0371 531-32285, email christian.vogel@mb.tu-chemnitz.de, and Stephan Luther, phone 0371 531-32694, email stephan.luther@bibliothek.tu-chemnitz.de.
Mario Steinebach
11.02.2026
