UNESCO honors renowned Syrian handmade soap.

Aleppo soap is considered the most eco-friendly soap and is recommended for use on infants. Instead of animal fat, Aleppo soap is made from olive oil and bay seed oil.

Aleppo soap. (Source: Reuters)

On December 3rd, the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decided to include the famous handmade soap of Aleppo, Syria, on its list of intangible cultural heritage, amidst renewed devastation of Syria's second-largest city by conflict.

According to UNESCO, the artisans created this product using 3,000-year-old "traditional knowledge and skills," relying on a combination of locally sourced, natural ingredients and a drying process that can take up to nine months.

Assessing the essential role of soap in the community here, UNESCO stated that "the collaborative production process fosters community and family cohesion."

Despite its rough appearance, Aleppo soap is considered the most eco-friendly soap and is recommended for infants. Instead of animal fat, Aleppo soap is made from olive oil and bay seed oil.

Aleppo soap is particularly time-consuming to make: it takes 3 days to cook the oil mixture into soap, but 9-12 months to dry it.

Prior to the conflict in Syria, soap production in Aleppo was a significant industry, with output reaching 20,000 tons per year in 2010.

However, the fighting caused soap production to plummet to just a few dozen tons per year. The conflict also dispersed the producers.

Of the 100 soap factories in the city, only about 10 remain operational. Many have relocated to Damascus or neighboring Türkiye, which offer similar climatic conditions for production, but they are also facing high production costs.

The recent violent events have also raised concerns about the impact on the city's newly recovering economy .

Besides soap, Al-Qudoud al-Halabiya, a traditional musical genre from Aleppo, is also on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

The city of Aleppo itself was recognized as a World Heritage site in 1986 – and was added to the list of endangered sites in 2013 amidst the ongoing conflict.

(VNA/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/unesco-vinh-danh-xa-phong-thu-cong-noi-tieng-cua-syria-post999068.vnp