Mazagan has recently been added to UNESCO´s list of World Heritage Sites (which also includes: Fez, Marrakech, Meknes and Essaouira). Now with a total of nine sites, Morocco is one of the countries with the most heritage sites in the world.
EL JADIDA is a stylish and beautiful town, retaining the lanes and ramparts of an old Portuguese Medina. It was known as Mazaganunder the Portuguese who held it from 1506 until 1769, when it was taken by Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah. Moroccan Mazagan was renamed El Jadida - "The New" - after being resettled, partly with Jews from Azemmour, by the nineteenth-century Sultan Abd Er Rahman. Under the French, it grew into a quite sizeable administrative centre and a popular beach resort.

On the synagogue was an interesting combination of symbols we hadn't seen before. It's the Star of David underneath the Muslim crescent. We surmise it symbolizes the appreciation of the Jewish population of the time at being accepted by an Islamic country after fleeing persecution at the hands of the Christian Spanish, and of their desire to integrate into Moroccan life.
Next to the Portuguese city is a large Jewish cemetery. The tombstones of Jewish translators and employees of foreign consuls demonstrates the Jewish role in 19th century trade with Europe. The saint Yahia Assouline is buried in this cemetery.