The German colony-Sharona, was founded in 1871 by a group of German protestant Christians who were called- Templers. Members of the group believed that redemption could only come by inhabiting the holy country. That is why its members came to Israel, where they build their colonies.The German colony sharona was the third colony (the Haifa and Jaffa colonies came first). The templar's called the colony Sharona, due to their belief that it lays in the boundaries of the biblical Sharona region. Sharon was an agricultural colony, in contrast to the Jaffa and Haifa colony which mainly focused on tourism and trade. The sharona colony had one o the first modern wells built in Israel. It architecturally resembled the villages of south Germany, which was quite innovative to Israel.
Adjacent to the houses which were usually single story, public building such as schools and churches where built. Around the colony thousands of acres of agricultural fields stretched, which were processed by the templar's. The sharona colony set an example for the first settlers who later came to Israel. In 1898 the German emperor Wilhelm the second came to Israel. In his honor, the templar's built a bridge over the Yarkon River, which remains are still visible today. In 1909 the Hebrew neighborhood Ahuzat Bait was founded which soon became the city of Tel Aviv. As the years passed, Tel Aviv grew and its projects came closer to the German colony.
Due to the British occupation of Israel during the Second World War, the German colony was confined by barbed wires and guard towers who were under strict British regulation. As the war came to an end most of the German settlers were exiled to Austria and at 1948 the sharona colony was redesigned to be used as the Israeli state defense headquarters, and was known ever since as the "Kirya". In recent years due to pressure by green organizations, the sharona colony was renovated.