Tripoli! – One of those cities that preserve their
ancient medieval character, every nook and cranny,
every street, alley and place of worship redolent
with nostalgia! The people conserve their traditional
society with its morals, usages, customs and relationships.
One sees the traditions, feasts, trade, barter and
communication rooted in the work done in common.
There are the bazaars, known here as souq, with
places for every craft, the souq of the tailors,
of the jewelers, of the copper beaters, of the soap
makers and of the carpenters, to mention only a
few.
Even where food is concerned, one finds alleys devoted
separately to the butchers, the pastry cooks, the
fishmongers, the poultry mongers, and the dealers
in kitchen utensils. Just as in certain cities one
finds districts devoted to schools, libraries, bookshops,
and printing presses, so one still finds in Lebanon
villages of printers with dozens of large presses
always busy and provided with every accessory. There
are villages where workers of one kind dominate,
for example cooks and chefs, or stonemasons, or
tinsmiths.
But when one visits Tripoli there are hundreds of
places where one wants to stop and to stare. There
are inns and restaurants, alleys and remains, various
localities, the Citadel, Church Street, the mosques
and the bazaars of the copper beaters and carpenters,
with Souq al-Haraj. There is the old rest-place,
Khan, for caravans, the Turkish baths, the cafés
and the sea-front which is the joy of anglers.
Let us stop in the center of Tripoli, not far from
the mosque, to the left of the street of the jewelers.
There you will find yourself within a large building
which in Ottoman times was a military arsenal, but
now is known as Khan as-Saboun. All around the inner
court there are two-story buildings with arcades
that were certainly not originally constructed for
their present-day use, as places for the manufacture
of soap, saboun in Arabic. The work here is strictly
a pre-industrial craft. Tripoli is surrounded by
olive groves stretching as far as the eye can see,
from the district of Koura to that of Akkar, and
from these the finest quality of olive oil may be
drawn in abundance.
The craftsmen who make the soap have looked for
ways of fabricating soap that is colored or perfumed
and shaped in many ways; apart from the traditional
square blocks one may find soap formed into ovals,
spheres, flowers, fruits, and even certain kinds
of birds and animals, while there are also fanciful
forms thought up by the makers to satisfy the whims
of their clients. There is a wide range of traditional
soaps, with kinds also that are vegetal, scented
with mint, rose, violet, amber or camomile. In addition,
there are on sale various bathroom accessories.
By entering this one-time Khan, one may see how
the soap is made and the bars are shaped and cut.
One may also see old photographs showing the man
who laid the foundations of this skill and hear
explanations about the different techniques of the
craft.
There is an idea going around that there should
be a soap museum created in Tripoli like the one
existing in Sidon. It is fascinating to see how
the bars of soap are displayed in circles, with
walls rising high, or in different geometrical forms.
At present, with all the detergents and industrially
produced soaps, the market for soap so good for
the skin made with olive oil is declining, so the
craftsmen of Khan as-Saboun are perfecting a soap
which is “bio-friendly”.
Making a halt at the Khan in Tripoli and seeing
the inside is most instructive. But it is fair to
add that there are many families in Lebanon who
still make their own soap at home, just as they
bake their own bread, with their own particular
recipes governing the exact proportions of oil,
water and soda.
William
Matar
Translation from the French: K.J. Mortimer
- Khan el Saboun: >> View
Movie << (2010-10-15)
