The flourishing soap-making industry in sixteenth-century Jerusalem underwent a gradual decline until, during the late Ottoman period, it ground to a halt. Unlike Nablus, where Ottoman soap-factories are still operational today, hardly any remnants of maṣbanas can be identified in present-day Jerusalem.

Any extant vestiges should naturally be sought in the quarter known as the Khan al-Zayt (olive oil marketplace) south of Damascus gate. Shaykh Asʿad al-'Imām, an authority on local history and a scholar in his own right, was kind enough to help us locate the only remains of a maṣbana still to be found in Jerusalem. House Number 37 in Khān al-Zayt belongs to the al-Quṭayna family, known in the nineteenth century for their intensive involvement in the production of oil as well as soap. Part of the building is used as their residence; the rest is derelict but extremely impressive from our standpoint.

The second storey is a huge hall, 29 × 16.40 meters. It had at least 20 stone pillars supporting the arches on which the roof rested. (Cf: sijill, vol. 77, pp. 340–1, describing another soap-factory in Jerusalem introduced in the late sixteenth century into an old building, where the roof rests on 24 pillars and 30 arches.) The pillars are 145 × 125 cm. each, rising at the highest point of the arch to 3.30 meters.