"I've always loved sailing the seas. And indeed, I sailed often, at a time when ships were used as a means of transportation and not just for cruises and vacations," says architecture historian Prof. Gilbert Herbert about his study of Zim's passenger ships. The Technion's Architectural Heritage Research Center in Haifa recently published his book, "Symbols of a New Land: Architects and the Design of the Passenger Ships of Zim." The study includes a historical survey of Hebrew maritime activity (which is not illustrious compared to other seaside nations) from the biblical era through the days of Zim.

It focuses on the interior design of Zim's passenger ships, which were built from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, and on the national and cultural contexts in which they were built. Zim ships, says Herbert, recorded an important chapter in the history of shipping and of modern architecture in the second half of the 20th century. "The interior design of ships around the world was at the time conservative, heavy and ostentatious," he says, "and ships were perceived as a seafaring version of hotels. From this perspective, Israel was at the forefront of progress: The approach to the interior design of the ship was that it was a body in motion."

Leading modern Israeli architects - Eli Mansfeld and Munio Gitai, Dora and Yehezkel Gad and Aryeh Noy - were put in charge of design. The furniture was state-of-the-art, the finishing was made from modern materials (Formica and plastic), the shades were light and the ambience dynamic and light-hearted.

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The ship designs - primarily the flagship, Shalom, which was built in 1964 - integrated the works of internationally renowned artists and young Israeli artists, including Yaacov Agam and Dani Karavan. The ships sparked unprecedented interest in the world of architecture and international art and merited enthusiastic reviews. As Herbert relates, "for architects of my generation, ships were 'machines to sail in,' a maritime equivalent of Le Corbusier's vision of a modern house as a 'machine to live in.'"

Selling Shalom in 1967

Beyond the architectural achievement, Herbert sees Zim's passenger ships, four of which were built with reparations money from Germany, as a parable for the Zionist vision. The elimination of the industry was no less symbolic. "Israel had no choice but to develop a fleet of passenger ships," explains Herbert. "After the War of Independence, it was basically an island and the sea was the outlet to and from it."

This industry survived only a short time and already in the 1950s, the number of flight passengers surpassed the number of ship passengers. The reason why they continued building such ships was no longer economic, but symbolic he says. "A ship is considered a symbol and whoever travels on one feels as if he is treading on the land of Israel. The nationalist and propagandist element was central in building passenger ships and also in their design. The artists were Israelis, the names of the ships were Zionist and they were a floating island of patriotism. Ships were a way of sending a message and not just to the passengers. What is a ship called 'Shalom' if not propaganda? But the artistic and architectural merits were great and etched in history."

Today Zim, which was recently privatized, no longer operates passenger ships. The company began selling its passenger ships in 1967. Shalom was the first, followed by Zion, Israel, Moledet (Homeland), Jerusalem and also Theodor Herzl.

'Maybe I'm a romantic'

Herbert was born in 1924 in Johannesburg, South Africa and studied architecture in his native city and in Pretoria. His wife, Valerie Estelle Ryan, was born in Port Elizabeth - across from where the Shalom sank on July 25, 2001 (under its new name, the Regent Sun). In 1968, Herbert arrived in Israel with his family and settled in Haifa, where he still lives today in an apartment overlooking the sea.

He began teaching agriculture and urban planning at the Technion. He is one of the pioneers of historical research of modern architecture in Israel and was a professor of architecture and a senior lecturer until his retirement. At the faculty of architecture, he established the Architectural Heritage Research Center - a valuable archive, which unfortunately does not receive an adequate budget.

His books, in which he focused on the industrialization of building in the modern era, have won international praise. In Israel, his books, "Bauhaus on the Carmel," written with Silvina Sosnovsky, which was accompanied by an exhibition; and "In Search of Excellence: The Architecture and Building Projects of the Electric Industry in the Land of Israel 1921-1942," (written with Sosnovsky and Ita Heinze-Greenberg) are both required reading on the subject. Herbert says with a half smile that the main bonus of the academic career he chose is the traveling. "The conferences and sabbaticals allowed us to travel for relatively long periods. Even though my wife suffers from seasickness, we loved to travel on ships. We weren't rushing, we had all the time in the world and the world opened up before us."

In the era of ships, he says, "the distance and the time were the important part of the experience. In the era of jets, the paradigm has changed and the distance and time are considered a nuisance." At the same time, he acknowledges that "maybe I'm a romantic" and is fond of modern means of transportation whatever they may be - ships, cars, trains and planes.

Herbert's book was published in English in an abridged edition. Herbert says that various groups, including Zim itself, did not agree to publish its full-length version. "But it's better this way than not at all," he says, "after the Shalom sank, it was important for me that the research not sink."