The Mellah and Ibn Danan Synagogue

The Mellah of Fes is the historic Jewish quarter of Fes el-Jdid, established in 1438 when the Merenid rulers relocated the Jewish community from the older medina to a district beside the royal palace in Morocco's Fès-Meknès region. The Mellah is distinguished by its architecture: unlike the inward-facing Muslim houses of the medina, its tall buildings have street-facing balconies with carved wooden railings, and the streets are narrower and denser. The Ibn Danan Synagogue, on Rue Ibn Danan, dates from the 17th century and takes its name from the prominent Ibn Danan family. It is a small prayer house arranged around a central courtyard with an upper women's gallery, a carved wooden ark for Torah scrolls, a central reader's platform (the bimah) and walls decorated with plaster and tiling. After the Jewish community largely emigrated in the 20th century, the building fell into ruin and was used as a workshop and storage place. It was restored in the early 2000s with support from Moroccan and international heritage bodies and reopened as a heritage site. A small exhibition shows photographs and objects relating to the community's history, and a ritual bath (mikveh) can be seen below. The synagogue is a quiet, compact site that visitors typically see in 20 to 30 minutes. It is closed on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, and the entry fee is modest. The Mellah is within walking distance of the Jewish Cemetery, the Grand Rue of Fes el-Jdid and the Royal Palace gates, so the sites can be combined. The district illustrates the long Jewish presence in Fes, a community that included merchants, craftspeople and scholars and contributed to the city's commerce for centuries.