About the project
The Rabinovitch Park is located at a prominent intersection in Kiryat Hayovel. The park’s central feature is The Golem, a monumental play sculpture by French-American artist Niki de St. Phalle (1930-2002). The vividly painted, two-story monster head with tongue slides is a Jerusalem landmark, known simply as The Monster. Children climb up an exterior stairway, enter a small dark room, then slide down through the monster’s gaping mouth. Dr. Martin Weyl, former director of the Israel Museum and former art advisor to mayor Teddy Kollek recalls that the mayor was to have inaugurated the sculpture by sliding down one of the tongues, but he couldn’t get up the ladder because of the crush of children. In an interview held in connection with an exhibit of St. Phalle’s at the Pompidou Center in Paris in 1980, the artist stated that the sculpture was the work of which is she was most proud.
