Kiryat Shlomo
Kiryat Shlomo
| |
|---|---|
Entrance to Kiryat Shlomo | |
Kiryat Shlomo | |
| Coordinates: 32°14′03″N 34°51′41″E / 32.23417°N 34.86139°E | |
| Country | Israel |
| District | Central |
| Council | Hof HaSharon |
| Founded | 1945 |
| Founded by | Private initiative and Jewish health organizations |
| Population (2023)[1] | 334 |
Kiryat Shlomo (Hebrew: קריית שלמה, lit. Place of Shlomo) is a psychiatric and geriatric hospital and institutional settlement in central Israel. It falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaSharon Regional Council and had a population of 334 in 2023.[1]
History
The lands of Kiryat Shlomo lie in the southern Sharon plain, which before the 20th century formed part of the Forest of Sharon. This woodland, dominated by Mount Tabor oak, extended from Kfar Yona in the north to Ra'anana in the south. Local Arab inhabitants of the region used the area for pasture, intermittent cultivation, and firewood collection.[2] The intensification of agriculture and settlement during the 19th century led to widespread deforestation and environmental change.
The community was founded in 1934, initially under the name Gan Shelomo (גן שלמה, Solomon’s Garden). In 1945 was established as a medical-agricultural institution for the treatment of psychiatric and geriatric patients, combining therapeutic work in surrounding fields with residential care.[3] Shortly after its founding, the name was changed to Kiryat Shlomo in memory of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Shragai, a leader in the religious Zionist movement and later mayor of Jerusalem, who supported the project.[4]
In the early years, residents combined agriculture with patient rehabilitation, in line with contemporary psychiatric theories that emphasized rural surroundings and physical work as therapeutic. Over time, the institution specialized as a psychiatric and geriatric hospital, serving the wider Sharon region.[5]
Present day
Kiryat Shlomo today functions primarily as a medical institution, with psychiatric, geriatric, and long-term care wards. The settlement retains the status of an “institutional village” within the Hof HaSharon Regional Council, with a small permanent population made up of staff, patients, and their families.[6]
References
- ^ a b "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
- ^ Marom, Roy (2022-12-01). "The Oak Forest of the Sharon (al-Ghaba) in the Ottoman Period: New Insights from Historical-Geographical Studies". Muse. 5: 90–107.
- ^ Jewish National Fund (1949). Jewish Villages in Israel. Jerusalem: Hamadpis Liphshitz Press. p. 16.
- ^ Harpaz, Yitzhak (1998). Medical Institutions in Israel, 1940–1960 (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv University Press. pp. 77–79.
- ^ Swirski, Shlomo (1999). "Health Care in Israel: An Institutional History". Israel Studies. 4 (2): 56–59. doi:10.2979/ISR.1999.4.2.55.
- ^ "Kiryat Shlomo Institutional Settlement" (in Hebrew). Hof HaSharon Regional Council. Retrieved 2025-09-05.