Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, once called Haifa "the city of the future". Situated along the coast adjacent to the northern slope of Mt. Carmel, boasting the largest industrial port city in the modern State of Israel and serving as a thriving center of learning, science, commerce and industry, Haifa would appear to have become just that. Of special note is its population: Arabs and Jews live together in what appears to be perfect harmony.

Haifa is the world center of the Bahai faith and the son of the Bahai prophet is buried in the mausoleum under a brilliant golden dome. The dome, and the center’s stunning hanging gardens, adorn the landscape and add to the city’s beauty.

Two thousand years ago Haifa was located at a site further northwest. This Old Town called Haifa el Atika - endured from Roman times through the Crusader period. After a bloody battle in 1100 the Crusaders tore down everything in sight. The rest was laid waste 650 years later by Dahar el-Amar, who ruled the Galilee during Turkish occupation of the country. When el-Amar decided to build a port in Haifa's bay and needed laborers and stevedores to work it he resettled the ruins of the Old Town. Unfortunately for el-Amar, the walls surrounding the area had long since been destroyed and as the Turks closed in, in 1761 he leveled the ancient city. The populace was removed to a narrow strip between the port and the mountains, where he established a tiny new village with defensive walls.

During the 19^th century the city began to thrive. Jews started to return and, in 1868, evangelical German Templers founded an attractive Colony a bit west of what had become a filthy, crowded and noisy little city.

This first settlement outside of 18th century Haifa was located on the Carmel plain at the foot of the mountain. Two decades later, a group of Sephardic Jews bought 60 dunams of land southeast of Haifa and established the first Jewish neighborhood outside the walls.