Syria · Food / Tobacco / Drink Processing (aromatic/cosmetic craft)
Ghar (laurel); metraf (olive oil, as specifically named within the soap-making context); together, Aleppo ghar soap
The production of Aleppo ghar soap, a natural olive-and-laurel-oil soap crafted in the Syrian city of Aleppo using traditional knowledge and skills documented as continuously practiced for approximately 3,000 years, formally inscribed by UNESCO in 2024 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Production follows a precise seasonal calendar: in autumn, families hand-pick wild laurel berries from surrounding forests and boil them in water until they split, skimming the risen oil (ghar) from the surface; soap production itself begins in winter, when natural lye, olive oil (metraf), and laurel oil are combined and cooked together. The cooked mixture is poured directly onto the floors of traditional soap factories and allowed to cool into a giant slab; craftsmen then don large wooden shoes and use their own body weight together with a rake to cut the cooled slab into individual cubes, a genuinely distinctive physical cutting method unlike any other soap-production technique documented in this archive. The finished cubes are then stamped by hand and left to dry for up to nine months. UNESCO specifically noted that the collaborative production process promotes community and family unity. The craft's contemporary status is directly tied to Syria's prolonged civil conflict: of roughly 100 soap factories historically operating in Aleppo, only about 10 remained as of the craft's UNESCO inscription, with many producers having relocated to Damascus or neighboring Turkey; the city of Aleppo itself, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986, was separately added to UNESCO's endangered heritage list in 2013 amid the ongoing war, and the soap's UNESCO inscription was formally announced in the same period that an Islamist-led rebel offensive captured the city from forces loyal to then-President Bashar al-Assad. Despite this severe disruption, UNESCO and independent reporting confirm the soap remains essential to the families and communities involved in its production.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Inscribed 2024 (19th session) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity under the title 'Craftsmanship of Aleppo Ghar soap'; the city of Aleppo itself has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986 and was separately added to UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger in 2013
Hand weaving on the traditional wood-and-iron loom, directly documented by the Syrian Arab News Agency as one of the oldest manual practices in Syria and an essential part of the country's cultural and civilizational fabric.
The hand-crafting of leather shoes and related products in Palmyra, using a genuinely distinctive locally produced silk thread called Khayt Al-Kharaza (also known as Khayt Al-Sareed), made from sheep intestines and treated with beeswax…
The painting of religious icons and monastery wall paintings within Syria's Syriac Christian communities, a tradition with continuous documented evidence spanning the seventh through thirteenth centuries CE and continuing as a living…
The hand-weaving of a silky fabric interwoven with silver and gold threads in elaborate designs, produced in Damascus and documented as much sought after through the ages, its appeal undiminished in the modern world.
The shaping of glass objects by hand-blowing, invented by Syrian craftsmen in the first century BCE -- an origin point for the entire global technique of glassblowing, corroborated across multiple independent historical sources including…
A decorative craft applying mother-of-pearl and other fine inlay materials to furniture, wall and ceiling panels, and household objects, dating back several hundred years — with some sources placing its origins as far back as 2,000 years —…
Soufflé-style omelette made by beating separated egg whites and yolks, then cooking in a long-handled copper pan over open wood fire.
The multi-stage hand extraction of shea butter (nkuto) from the nuts of the shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa, locally called karité), practiced by women in Ghana's Northern, Upper East, and Upper West regions since at least the 14th century.
The roasting, grinding, spicing, and ceremonial brewing of coffee in Sudan, a daily social ritual known as ja'afa in which green coffee beans are roasted over an open flame, ground by mortar and pestle, and boiled in a jabana pot (of clay…
The preparation of bazin, Libya's national dish, by boiling barley flour and salt in water and beating the resulting dough vigorously with a specialized wooden stick (magraf) until it forms a smooth, firm, solid dome.
The Greek feta cheese making tradition — the production of the PDO-protected white brined cheese from sheep milk (minimum 70%) and goat milk (maximum 30%) in the specific Greek geographic zones (mainland and Lesvos), whose characteristic…
The malting, boiling, and sun-fermenting of millet into a mildly alcoholic beer by Kabye communities of the Kara region, northern Togo.