The Mellah — the Jewish quarter — is Sefrou's most historically distinctive area. It survives largely intact, characterised by tall houses with overhanging upper floors, covered alleyways, and distinctive woodwork. At its height, Sefrou's Jewish population numbered around 8,000 people; one estimate puts Jews at a third of the total population in the early twentieth century.
Most of the community left for Israel in 1967. What remains is architecture and memory: the old synagogue, the distinctive layout of a quarter designed for a specific community, and occasional older residents who remember when both communities lived alongside each other. It is a quietly melancholy place, well worth a slow walk.
The covered streets of the Mellah, shaded and cooler than the rest of the medina, give a sense of how tightly these old urban quarters were built — everything within walking distance, everything interlocked.