Greece’s last bellfounders keep time-honored craft alive

Thomas Galanopoulos (left), 59, and his brother Christos, 55, prepare to clean a bell at their bell foundry in Paramythia, northwestern Greece, in this photograph taken last month. "More than half of our production goes abroad," the elder brother said of the bells manufactured by one of the country’s last bell foundries. At its peak, the foundry was producing 120 tons of bells a year for bell towers across Greece. Now, it is down to 50 tons and its key customers are churches in the Balkans and Africa. [Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters]