The Moroccan Jewish Culture Museum will open to the public on 12 October 2026 in Fes. Located in the heart of the Mellah, near the Jewish cemetery, the new institution traces more than 2,500 years of Jewish presence in Morocco through ritual objects, manuscripts, archives, costumes and everyday-life items.
The project, launched at the initiative of King Mohammed VI during his visit to Fes in April 2019, is part of a program to rehabilitate and enhance the old medina. Construction and fit-out work were completed in March 2023. Curatorial design and the installation of the collections have since prepared the museum for public opening.
A museum in the heart of Fes’s Mellah
The choice of the Mellah gives a particular significance to this new cultural facility. The historic quarter is an important site of Jewish memory in Fes and lies immediately adjacent to the Jewish cemetery.
The museum covers a total area of more than 1,700 square meters, including approximately 1,200 square meters of exhibition space. Its architecture incorporates several elements of Moroccan craftsmanship, notably zellige tilework, carved plaster, painted wood and marble.
The building blends into the medina’s architectural environment while offering a contemporary museographic design.
Two and a half millennia of history
At the entrance, a chronological frieze allows visitors to follow more than 2,500 years of Jewish presence in Morocco.
The route highlights the history of Fes’s Mellah, the arrival of Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula after 1492, and several religious and intellectual figures from the Moroccan Jewish tradition.
The museum does not confine its narrative to religious history. It also presents the communities’ social organization, daily life, institutions and economic activities.
Displays on the synagogue, the Hebrew school, the rabbinical court and the Mellah occupy a central place in the permanent route.
Manuscripts, archives and everyday objects
The collections bring together ritual and utilitarian objects, archaeological, ethnographic and artistic pieces, as well as archives, books and manuscripts.
Among the items on display are documents linked to the religious and social life of Moroccan Jewish communities. Objects also help explain family traditions and practices that accompanied life stages.
The route covers principal rites from circumcision to marriage, including bar mitzvah and funerary customs.
Festivals and traditions of Moroccan Judaism
Another section focuses on the Hebrew calendar and how holidays were celebrated in the Moroccan context.
This approach places religious practices within their cultural environment and shows the diversity of traditions across regions and communities.
Costumes, jewelry and musical instruments complete the presentation, giving concrete form to the historical narrative.
Traditional trades on display
The Moroccan Jewish Culture Museum also devotes a section to traditional trades and craftsmanship.
A reconstructed jeweler’s workshop demonstrates the techniques and tools used by artisans. The route also displays costumes and jewelry associated with family traditions and ceremonies.
This section recalls the role of artisanal trades in the economic and social life of Morocco’s Jewish communities.
A space dedicated to transmission
The new institution goes beyond exhibition: it includes audiovisual and digital resources to guide visitors through the collections.
Educational spaces will welcome children and school groups. The museum aims to make historical and ethnographic content accessible to diverse audiences.
Collection conservation is also a major component of the project. The museum is equipped with facilities for preventive conservation and object security.
A new milestone for Judeo-Moroccan heritage
The opening of the Moroccan Jewish Culture Museum complements Fes’s museum landscape. It is part of a broader policy to preserve Moroccan Jewish heritage, including the restoration of synagogues and cemeteries across the Kingdom.
The project also echoes the 2025 opening of the Museum of Islamic Arts at Palais Al Batha. The two institutions are nearby and offer complementary readings of Fes’s cultural history.
See you on 12 October in Fes
After several years of work and collection preparation, the Moroccan Jewish Culture Museum will finally open to the public on 12 October 2026.
Through its collections, archives and educational spaces, the new institution invites visitors to discover an ancient strand of Morocco’s history and to place that memory within Fes’s cultural landscape alongside other heritage institutions.
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