The Ibn Danan Synagogue ( ar, معبد ابن دنان, he, בית הכנסת אבן דאנן) is a synagogue in

Fes Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the second largest city in Morocco, with a population of 1.11 mi ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

, dating from the 17th century. It was built by Mimoun Ben Sidan, a wealthy merchant from the town of Ait Ishaq. The synagogue is located in the

Mellah A ''mellah'' ( or 'saline area'; and he, מלאח) is a Jewish quarter of a city in Morocco. Starting in the 15th century and especially since the beginning of the 19th century, Jewish communities in Morocco were constrained to live in ''mellah' ...

district within Fes el-Jdid, one of the components of the historic

medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

of Fes.

Architecture

The synagogue was once only one of several inside the walls of Fes, and not the most elaborate. It is entered through a simple doorway indistinguishable from the doors of nearby houses. The door leads immediately to a short flight of stairs that lead into the high, rectangular space of the synagogue.Zack, Joel, ''The Synagogues of Morocco; An Architectural and Preservation Survey'', Jewish Heritage Council and World Monuments Fund, New York, August, 1993, pp. 29–32 ff. The construction is masonry coated with plaster. The wooden ceiling is beamed and painted. The room is lit by small windows high in the walls. Photos taken in 1954 show a ceiling hung with numerous memorial lamps, now vanished. The walls are wainscotted with blue figured Moroccan tiles. The large

Torah Ark A Torah ark (also known as the ''Heikhal'', or the ''Aron Kodesh'') refers to an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark, also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' or ''aron ha- ...

, a cupboard filling the width of an entire wall, is made of carved wood. The wall above is decorated with intricately carved plaster work. Opposite the Torah Ark is a raised alcove, separated from the main prayer space by a wooden screen elaborately carved with a series of arches. It was intended as a seating area for the congregations more distinguished members. The bimah is accessed from this space, constructed as a small platform cantilevered out form the raised area. The wooden bimah is topped by a wrought iron canopy of Islamic-style arches and floral forms, culminating in a crown. A very early restoration is known to have taken place in the 1870s. More recently, the Jewish community of Fez has also struggled for its preservation, and successfully nominated the building to the 1996 World Monuments Watch of the

World Monuments Fund World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and trainin ...

. According to the Fund, the

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

was peeling, the roofs were collapsing, the waterlogged beams were rotting, and windows were broken and missing. The organization helped restore the synagogue with funding from American Express and in collaboration with Morocco's Ministry of Culture and the Judeo-Moroccan Cultural Heritage Foundation (''Fondation du Patrimoine Culturel Judeo-Marocain''). Following the restoration, the synagogue reopened in 1999. معبد ابن دنان 1.jpg, Interior of the synagogue معبد ابن دنان 2.jpg, The ''

hekhal Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by t ...

'' containing the '' Sefer Torah'', with traditional Moroccan ziliij visible below معبد ابن دنان 3.jpg, Traditional Mauro-Andalusi decorative motifs معبد ابن دنان 4.jpg, Interior معبد ابن دنان 6.jpg, View from the ''

mechitza A ''mechitza'' ( he, מחיצה, partition or division, pl.: , ) in Judaism, is a partition, particularly one that is used to separate men and women. The rationale in halakha (Jewish law) for a partition dividing men and women is derived from ...

'' balcony, a space for women to worship معبد ابن دنان 7.jpg, Another view of the ''

'' Syna-abendanan1.jpg, Plaque at the synagogue

References

External links

"The Ibn Danan Synagogue, Fez, Morocco"

The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot ANU - Museum of the Jewish People, formerly the Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, is located in Tel Aviv, Israel, at the center of the Tel Aviv University campus in Ramat Aviv. ANU - Museum of the Jewish People is an institution ...

{{Fes Orthodox Judaism in North Africa Orthodox synagogues Synagogues in Morocco 17th-century synagogues Buildings and structures in Fez, Morocco Tourist attractions in Fez, Morocco Judaism in Fez