Greece's last bellmakers keep time-honoured trade alive

Greece's last bellmakers keep time-honoured trade alive

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The silence blanketing the Greek plain is broken by the tinkle of a cowbell and the rumble of a blazing furnace.

In one of Greece's last remaining bell foundries in the small, western town of Paramythia, the Galanopoulos brothers are busy casting church bells heading to Ethiopia and Romania, pouring red-hot molten metal into moulds of varying sizes.

. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis
Thomas holds a cleaned bell.

Their family-run business has been around for 215 years. These days, exports keep it alive.

"More than half of our production goes abroad," said Thomas Galanopoulos, 59, the elder of the two, wreathed in smoke rising from melting copper and tin.

. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis
Melted metal alloy that will be cast in bell moulds.

At its peak, the foundry was producing 120 tonnes of bells a year for steeples across Greece, he said. Now, it's down to 50 tonnes and their main customers are churches in the Balkans and Africa, while they also ship to Israel, Lebanon and Australia.

. Igoumenitsa, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis
Father Theodoros Zois, who bought six bells from the Galanopoulos brothers, prays inside his church.

The Greek Orthodox Church permeates daily life in Greece, a country dotted with churches and chapels in even its most remote corners. But when the crisis hit, domestic demand collapsed.

The Church, not spared by the crisis, cut expenses to meet the rising costs of its soup kitchens and charities for the homeless and unemployed. Building or restoration work on churches often ceased. The faithful cut down on their private donations.

. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis
Fotis Galanopoulos, 21, works on a small bell for animals.

The Galanopoulos's biggest bell, weighing 3.5 tonnes, hangs from a church in northern Greece. But those days are gone. The volatile commodities market made the bells too costly to produce at times. Six people now work in the foundry, down from nine.

Still, the buzz of the foundry rarely stops. The craft, a painstaking process of mostly manual labour, has remained largely unchanged since the 12th century.

. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis
Christos engraves letters inside a bell mould.

Christos Galanopoulos, 55, applies figures and inscriptions by hand, stencilling backwards. When they're not casting bells, they're tuning cowbells on a grindstone.

. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis
Thomas and Christos Galanopoulos prepare to clean a bell.

For the brothers, the foundry is a labour of love.

"You have to be nuts about this job to do it. It's not for everyone," said Thomas, who took over aged just 12 when his father suddenly died.

. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis
Christos casts melted metal in a bell mould.

Christos, his shirt drenched with sweat from working over the furnace, smiled: "I spend more time here than at home. Even Sundays."

His first bell from 40 years ago hangs in a church in town. Discarded bells engraved with the family name, some dating back to the 19th century, are stacked in the yard.

. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis
Bells hang outside the Galanopoulos bell foundry.

"There's a moral satisfaction that comes with doing something your grandfather did, your great-grandfather did, your great, great-grandfather did," Christos said.

"It's a job that I love and I never plan to abandon it."

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Slideshow

Tools are spread on a working bench as a goat wearing a bell, made by the Galanopoulos brothers, makes its way outside the family's bell foundry.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Tools are spread on a working bench as a goat wearing a bell, made by the Galanopoulos brothers, makes its way outside the family's bell foundry.

Christos stirs metal alloy that will be cast in bell moulds.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Christos stirs metal alloy that will be cast in bell moulds.

Christos casts melted metal in a bell mould.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Christos casts melted metal in a bell mould.

Thomas Christos and Fizmani Flakim, 49, cast melted metal in a bell mould.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Thomas Christos and Fizmani Flakim, 49, cast melted metal in a bell mould.

Melted metal alloy cools down inside bell moulds.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Melted metal alloy cools down inside bell moulds.

Almir Melishte, 46, wipes sweat off his face as he stands next to a blazing furnace.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Almir Melishte, 46, wipes sweat off his face as he stands next to a blazing furnace.

Copper cables before being melted in a cauldron.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Copper cables before being melted in a cauldron.

Almir Melishte, 46, works on a bell clapper.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Almir Melishte, 46, works on a bell clapper.

An engraving of crucified Jesus Christ inside a bell mould.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

An engraving of crucified Jesus Christ inside a bell mould.

Fotis Galanopoulos, 21, works on a small bell for animals.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Fotis Galanopoulos, 21, works on a small bell for animals.

The portrait of Fotis Galanopoulos, the late father of the Galanopoulos brothers, hangs on a wall in an office at the family's bell foundry.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

The portrait of Fotis Galanopoulos, the late father of the Galanopoulos brothers, hangs on a wall in an office at the family's bell foundry.

Bells made by the Galanopoulos family hang at the bell tower of a 14th century byzantine church.
. Paramythia, GREECE. Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Bells made by the Galanopoulos family hang at the bell tower of a 14th century byzantine church.