The Nablusi Soap Factory (مصنع الصابون النابلسي) preserves the olive-oil soap craft that made Nablus one of Palestine’s principal manufacturing cities. The…
The Nablusi Soap Factory (مصنع الصابون النابلسي) preserves the olive-oil soap craft that made Nablus one of Palestine’s principal manufacturing cities. The factory stands on al-Nasr Street in the Old City, where historic soap works were built among the city’s houses, markets and family compounds. Nablusi soap developed from the agricultural life surrounding the city. Olive oil arrived from nearby villages, while the alkaline substance known as qili was historically prepared from plants gathered east of the River Jordan. Soap factories also stored olive oil for farmers until it was sold or reclaimed, linking the workshops closely to the rural economy. The industry that shaped Nablus Soap production expanded sharply during the nineteenth century and became a leading sector of the city’s economy. Nablus had fifteen factories working at full capacity in 1860 and thirty by 1882, with production concentrated especially in the southern and western parts of the Old City. Factories were commonly owned by prominent Nablus families, and their products travelled to markets across the region. Each manufacturer stamped its soap with a recognisable brand, often represented by an animal, object or celestial symbol. Al-Badr, meaning “the full moon,” was among these established Nablusi brands. Cooking, cutting and drying the soap The traditional process begins by cooking olive oil with water and an alkaline agent in a large vessel. The finished mixture is carried to the mafrash, the spreading floor, where it is poured out and left to set. Workers then mark straight cutting lines, divide the soap into bars and stamp each piece with the factory’s name or emblem. The bars are arranged in tall, ventilated stacks known as tananir and left to dry for several months before wrapping. The factory retains tools connected with this method and produces both solid and liquid soap, continuing the craft from which Nablusi soap takes its name.