Ibn Danan Synagogue

Ibn Danan was built in the seventeenth century by a merchant family of that name 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.

What you actually see

• 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.

Honest expectations

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.