Mellah

This guide to the Mellah in Marrakesh begins in 1558, when the Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib ordered every Jewish family in the city into one walled, gated quarter beside his palace. You'll hear how a self-sufficient town grew inside those walls, with its own courts, communal bakeries, a ritual bath, and the country's largest Jewish cemetery, and how a community of forty thousand dwindled sharply across the twentieth century. Listen for the market stalls and fabric sellers still lining the lanes today.