Possibly the most unusual district in all Jerusalem, Mea Shearim is a perfectly preserved, living model of 18th-century Jewish Eastern Europe. It is a quarter inhabited exclusively by ultra-Orthodox Jews, where the influence of the outside world is kept to an absolute minimum. Dress is traditional in the extreme; many men wear black stockings and long black coats, and women keep their hair covered beneath a snood. The streets either side of main Mea Shearim Street are narrow alleyways, which squeeze between long, narrow two-storey dwellings, occasionally opening out into washing-strewn communal courtyards. The area is completely self-contained, with its own bakeries, markets, synagogues and, although no longer in use, its own huge cistern.

Mea Shearim was founded in the late 19th century and built in three stages, to a design by Conrad Schick, for Jews from Poland and Lithuania. Until well into this century the quarter was shut off from the rest of the city each night by six gates.

The gates are gone but visitors should bear in mind that this is still a very insular community. Skirts should reach below the knee, and men must not wear shorts or T-shirts. Discretion is advised when taking photographs.

Northwest of Mea Shearim is the Bukharan Quarter, founded in the late 19th century by wealthy Central Asian Jews. Traces of its former grandeur remain in some elegant, if dilapidated, mansions.