It was built by Mimoun Ben Sidan, a wealthy merchant from the town of Ait Ishaq.

The synagogue is located in the Mellah district within Fes el-Jdid, one of the components of the historic medina of Fes.

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.

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.

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.

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. Following the restoration, the synagogue reopened in 1999.