Abu al-Rûs Soap Factory

5Located in the al-Qâryoun district, on the Street of the Soapmakers, it is built on two levels; a third level, with only one room and a terrace, is not directly related to the manufacture of soap.

6The ground floor is a hall of about 200 m², 13 m wide along the street and 15 m deep. It is divided into two bays, perpendicular to the street, of unequal widths, 5.50 m and 7.50 m. Each of them is made up of two cross vaults resting in the middle of the room on an exceptionally large stone block, a 2.50 m square. The entrance is in the small bay. On the right is the large bay where the owner’s office is located, a sort of wooden box with glass windows, placed on a platform that is independent of the stone structure of the room and the soap-making area. At the back, a staircase leads down to a room in the basement where the fire is stoked, and in the centre is the soap vat and the chimney which runs freely through the middle of the bay. The staircase to the first floor is to the left of the small bay.

7The plan of the first floor has a surface area equivalent to that of the ground floor, but only partially follows its structure. The bays on this level are organised parallel to the street. On the street side, the space is entirely devoted to pouring and drying soap, while at the rear the bays are divided into a space for the staircase leading to the terrace and two separate rooms with arched ceilings.

Illustration 17c – Soap wrappers made in Nablus.

Figure 26 – Abu al-Rûs soap factory, scale 1:333.

Al-Masri Soap Factory

8This factory is located on the eastern edge of the old town in the al-Qaysariyya quarter. It is approximately 500 m² long and 6 m high and is divided into three parts. On the street side, a first area of 240 m² is laid out along the same lines as the Abu al-Rûs soap factory, a vaulted room with two bays resting on three side walls and two posts, one of which is central. The post located at the edge of this first set allows communication with the other two parts of the soap factory. Over a visible height of about one metre, the posts are made of large finely dressed stones, topped by a cornice and supporting the vaults. The ground floor is split into several levels: street level at the entrance, then to the side a second level, about fifty centimetres lower, contains the olive oil tanks, and finally the third level is raised by more than a metre and accommodates the two soap vats.

9Beyond this first area, the back of the soap factory is divided into two parts. In the axis of the entrance, there is a first room, which serves as an access way for the second set. It opens onto a rectangular room with a barrel vault and an apse extending its length. It is built of dressed stone, with a cornice supporting the vault and finely worked niches in the apse. This room, which, like the sophisticated treatment of the posts described above, does not fit in with the logic of a soap factory plan, could have been part of an older religious or civic building, integrated into the soap factory at the time of its construction. Adjacent to this part, a last area is divided in two in its height, the upper part being reserved for the soap pouring.

Figure 27 – Soap factory al-Masri soap factory, ground floor plan, longitudinal section, cross section, scale 1:333.

Arafat soap factory (ill. 18)

10This factory is located in a block in the centre of the Old Town between Souk Street and al-Nasr Street, and is associated with the owner’s house.

11From the street, a short dead end leads to a courtyard opening onto the soap factory. To the side, a passageway leads to a second courtyard with a basin in its centre, which gives access to an independent room, the diwân, and to the family’s living quarters.

12Beyond, the passageway leads to a second courtyard, also with an octagonal fountain, which gives access to rooms that are independent of the current activities of the house. Today, the complex has been extensively altered to accommodate a cultural centre, but the rooms of the former soap factory are easily identifiable. On the ground floor, which was devoted to soap making, there is a twelve-metre-long bay, located along the axis of the entrance and lined with niches, alcoves or small independent rooms on either side. With a total surface area of 90 m² it was, therefore, a relatively small soap factory. The first floor, reserved for pouring and drying the soap, has a surface area of 60 m². It is arranged at right angles to the axis of the entrance, covering half of the ground floor bay and the top of the diwân.

Figure 28 – Soap factory and Arafat house, plan of the ground floor, scale 1:333.

Illustration 18 – Courtyard of Arafat House.

Al-Yûsufiyah Soap Factory

13Located in the north of the al-Habâla district on the outskirts of the old town, this factory was built on a greenfield site. The building, being isolated, did not have to adapt to constraining surroundings, being in a similar situation to the Touqan soap factory in Shuhadâʾ Square.

14The soap factory, which must date from the end of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th, is a rational two-storey building whose plan is based on a rigorous geometry. It is a rectangle of 17 m × 23 m divided into three bays widthways and four in its length, each bay being cross-vaulted. The ground floor is shortened by one bay in its width to accommodate shops along the street. The area reserved for soap-making is thus a square room with sides 17 m long, i.e. a surface area of about 280 m².

15The staircase, which is difficult to fit in, is built against an outside wall of the building. It gives access to the first floor, which extends over the whole of the shops and the soap production area. The structure of the first floor is superimposed on that of the ground floor, but the stone pillars and vaults are replaced on the second floor by concrete posts and beams. The simple and regular façades are in line with the design requirements, following the bay structure of the building, and are divided into two parts, the ground floor with its large entrance door and one or two windows per bay, and on the first floor, a single large window per bay to ensure the ventilation necessary for drying the soap.

16These buildings constitute a specific heritage for Nablus, quantitatively important in the same way as the baikés,4 or even the mills in Damascus. They were emblematic of the town’s wealth and regional importance.

Figure 29 – Al-Yûsufiyya soap factory, scale 1:333.