Throughout its history it has been active as an Arab cultural institution (in Mandatory Palestine), again as a cinema after the establishment of Israel, and as a theatre after 1963. In 2010 it was purchased and renovated by the Church of Scientology, and in 2012 was opened as the Ideal Center of Scientology for the Middle East.[2]
The building was opened in May 1937 and was one of the biggest and luxurious cinemas in Palestine.[3] It became a cultural centre and hosted famous Arab artists such as Umm Kulthum, Farid al-Atrash and Leila Mourad.[4] Local residents, both local Arabs and Jews originating from Arab countries, came to the shows together with their families.[4]
The cinema was owned and managed by Palestinian Arabs, among them Isa al-Safri, Muhammad Abduh Hilmi, Muhammad Musa al-Husayni, Muhammad Younis al-Husayni, Muhammad Ramadan Hammu, Hasan Arafeh, Abdul-Rahman Alhaj Ibrahim, and Mughnnam Mughnnam.[5] Photos from 1937, during the Arab revolt in Palestine, show light bulbs fitted as a permanent fixture at the top of the building's turret.
After the 1948 war it became Israeli property and reopened under the name "Yafor".[2] In 1963 it was taken over by the impresarioGiora Godik who turned it into an independent theatre,[2] again under the name "Alhambra". In the late 1970s the building was largely abandoned.[citation needed] Until 2007 a bank used the main entrance, which faces the boulevard, as a branch.[2]
Starting in 2010 the building, affected by decades of transformations, underwent restoration and refurbishment, and in 2012 it was inaugurated as an Israeli and regional centre for Scientology.[2][1]
