UNESCO honors Syria's famous handmade soap

On December 3, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decided to include the famous handmade soap of Aleppo city, Syria on the list of intangible cultural heritage, in the context of Syria's second city once again being devastated by conflict.

Craftsmen make the product using 3,000-year-old 'traditional knowledge and skills,' according to UNESCO, relying on a combination of natural, locally produced ingredients and a drying process that can take up to nine months. Noting the soap's importance to the community here, UNESCO said 'the collaborative production process fosters community and family cohesion.'

Handmade soap from Aleppo, Syria has been included in UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage. (Photo: AFP).

With its rough appearance, Aleppo soap is considered the most ecological soap and is recommended for babies. Instead of animal fat , Aleppo soap is made from olive oil, laurel seed oil. In particular, Aleppo soap requires a lot of processing time : 3 days to cook the oil mixture into soap, but it takes 9-12 months to dry.

Before the Syrian conflict, soap production in Aleppo was a major industry in Syria, with an annual output of 20,000 tons in 2010. However, the fighting has caused soap production to plummet to just a few dozen tons per year. The conflict has also fragmented producers. Of the city's 100 soap factories, only about 10 remain in operation, with many moving to Damascus or neighboring Turkey, which have similar climate conditions for production, but are also facing high production costs. The recent violence has also raised concerns about the impact on the city's newly recovered economy.

In addition to soap operas, Al-Qudoud al-Halabiya , a traditional Aleppo musical genre, is also on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage. The city of Aleppo itself was designated a world heritage site in 1986 - and was added to the endangered heritage list in 2013 amid the ongoing conflict.