Ibn Danan Synagogue

Ibn Danan was built in the seventeenth century by the merchant Mimon Boussidan, takes its name from the Ibn Danan family of rabbis who served it from 1812, and is one of the oldest synagogues surviving in Morocco. By the 1990s it was structurally failing and largely abandoned as the community shrank, and it was restored between 1996 and 1999 in a project involving Moroccan authorities, the World Monuments Fund and the local Jewish community - a piece of work that was noticed internationally as an example of a Muslim-majority state funding the conservation of Jewish heritage, and which was followed by a wider national programme of synagogue and cemetery restoration in the 2010s. Inside is a single rectangular hall with a raised bimah, benches along the walls, painted woodwork, hanging lamps and an ark; a mikveh, the ritual bath, is beneath. A caretaker holds the key and shows visitors round. It is used occasionally rather than regularly.

History

The synagogue is dated to the early or late 17th century, to 1680 by the historian Hicham Rguig, and was built by Mimon Boussidan, a wealthy merchant among the notables of Fez; like most synagogues of the mellah it was damaged and rebuilt more than once. From 1812 until it closed in the 1960s its rabbis all came from the Ibn Danan family, and it is named after Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Danan, who led it in the early 20th century. After a restoration in the 1870s it fell into decay, and in 1996 the Jewish community of Fez had it named to the World Monuments Watch; the World Monuments Fund restored it with Morocco's Ministry of Culture and the Judeo-Moroccan Cultural Heritage Foundation, uncovering in 1997 a mikveh beneath the bimah, and it reopened in 1999 (Wikipedia, Ibn Danan Synagogue).

What's there

• A seventeenth-century hall - bimah, ark, benches and painted woodwork.
• The mikveh below - the ritual bath beneath the prayer hall.
• A 1990s restoration - a conservation project that drew international attention.
• A caretaker's key - opened on request rather than kept open to a schedule.

When to go

October to April. Half an hour; find the caretaker locally.

Before you go

It is opened on request and may be shut when you arrive. A donation is expected. It is used only occasionally now, with a very small community remaining in Fes. The mellah around it has changed entirely in population.

Nearby

The royal palace doors are a short walk; the Jewish cemetery is in the same quarter.

Key facts