Armanaz, Syria’s Glassblowing Town

A town in the Harim district, 20-30 kilometres north-west of Idlib, on an upland between Jabal al-Ala and Jabal al-Duwayli. It is known as the only place in northern Syria that keeps up hand glassblowing, and an old saying measures thinness against Armanaz glass. The town lives from olives and olive oil.

Why glass and pottery here

The local ground supplies both crafts: sand for glass, clay for pottery. Both stayed handmade and traditional. Early in the 13th century Yaqut al-Hamawi wrote that this old, small town, about five farsakhs, or old leagues, from Aleppo, made red water jars and vessels with a very pleasant smell.

The name and its origins

The name is older than the Semitic languages. The town may be the Assyrian city of Tarmanazi. The Swedish art historian Carl Johan Lamm, citing ancient sources, wrote that it was founded by glassworkers from a town of the same name near Tyre, in today’s Lebanon.

Armanaz in the Middle Ages

In 1098, when the Crusaders took Antioch, its fleeing Seljuk ruler Yaghi-Siyan was killed here; Armanaz was then an estate belonging to Maarrat Misrin. Under the Crusaders the town appears as Emine or Eminas. Ibn Shaddad counts Armanaz among 22 castles in the Aleppo region that were destroyed in the Mongol invasion and never rebuilt by the Mamluks.

What is in town

The old quarters are al-Mansura, Isbatris and Tell al-Haddadi. Beneath the town run water channels from the Roman period. The 2004 census counted 10296 people.

Getting there

Head north-west from Idlib, towards Harim. We could not verify whether the glass workshops are working today, so ask in town. Roads and checkpoints change; check the current situation before you set out.

How long it takes

An hour for a workshop visit and the old quarters.

Don’t miss

The furnace in a glass workshop. What sets Armanaz apart is not a building but a craft. If glass is still being blown here, the only way to see it is to stand beside a craftsman.