Rehovot is located in the centre of the country. It was one of the first communities founded in the modern Israel. It is located about 20 kilometers south of Tel Aviv. The city has a population of 114,000 people and is known as the City of Science and Culture. The city emblem consists of a microscope, book and orange and it is known as Israel’s citrus capital.
Rehovot was founded in 1890 by Jews from Poland looking for land in Palestine without being under the control of Baron Rothschild. Sixteen years later, they were joined by immigrants from Yemen. Together, they built the city that is known for its agriculture and high-tech.
From 1914 and 1991 the population grew from 955 to 81,000, and the area of the town more than doubled. In 1932 an agricultural research station was moved from Tel Aviv. 30 years later it became the Department of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1934 Chaim Weizmann built the Sieff Institute in Rehovot, which later became the Weizmann Institute of Science. He and his wife are buried on the Institute’s manicured grounds.
Rehovot is a mid-sized Israeli city and is mixed between religious and secular culture. The city is known to be a community where people actually get along with each other. There are no areas that are completely religious or secular although there is a small area with streets that are closed on Shabbat. The city is home to a number of historical buildings including a few examples of Bauhaus architecture.