Egypt Guide
Alexandria and the Mediterranean coast
Eliyahu Ha-Navi Synagogue
A short way down Nabi Daniel, high wrought-iron gates and clusters of police guard the Eliyahu Ha-NaviSynagogue, entered via an alley to the north (admission may be possible on Saturday mornings; bring your passport and pretend to be Jewish if necessary). Built in 1885 by Baron Jacques de Menasce, its columned Italianate interior features stained-glass windows, giant menorahs and a collection of Torah scrolls from bygone neighbourhood synagogues that once served a Jewish community of seventy thousand, tracing its ancestry back to the city's foundation. Nowadays only a dozen or so, mostly elderly, Jews remain, six of whom look after the synagogue and its extensive archives.