Artists Quarter of Safed

The Artists' Quarter in Safed, also known as the Artists' Colony; was founded after the capture of Safed, in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.^[1] With the encouragement of the Safed municipality, a group of artists began to restore ruins in the Mamluk neighborhood of Harat al-Wata,^[2] on the border of the historic Jewish quarter, to build galleries and open exhibitions. The first artists to settle in Safed however arrived several years beforehand. The first to discover Safed's artistic aura was Isaac Frenkel Frenel in 1920 and following him Moshe Castel and Mordechai Levanon in the 1930s.

This attracted dozens of other artists to the Quarter. Integerswas the home of some of the artists, others wandered there, inspired by the spirit of the city, its landscapes, buildings and characters. The gallery workshops and exhibitions were a tourist attraction throughout Kriya's flourishing period in the 1950s and 1960s. To this day a few galleries and museums remain.

Safed's mystic aura invited a wide range of Israeli artists from different art movements. The most notable art movement to adopt Safed was the Jewish School of Paris art movement spearheaded by Isaac Frenkel from the 1920s until the 1970s.^[3]

From the 1970s and onward, the Artists' quarter declined in stature. The founding generation passed away, some of the artists did not adapt to changes in artistic fashions and commercialization of art. Neglected infrastructure, lack of state support as well as and demographic changes - the entry of an ultra-Orthodox population into the artists' quarter, have furthered the quarter's continuing decline.^[4]