Naffah Naffah operates the final remaining church-bell foundry in Lebanon, a craft his family has practiced in Beit Chabab for three centuries. Located on a hillside overlooking the Lebanese coast, the workshop produces approximately 25 bells annually.
About 20 of these yearly creations are installed in Lebanese churches, while the rest are exported to communities in Europe, Australia, and the United States. Each bell requires two months of production, beginning with a 40-day process to create an interior mould from white clay and goat hair.
The molten metal mixture is heated over 24 hours using burning wood before it hardens in three minutes after being poured. Craftspeople are hired to engrave icons or crosses onto the moulds, and a hydraulic press alongside an anvil on a tree stump is used for shaping.
A medium-sized bell weighing one tonne costs roughly $80,000, while every 100kg of metal costs $8,000. The earliest surviving bell with the Naffah name dates back to 1725 in Qalaat Sahyoun.
Naffah stated, "I hate giving the bells away, it always makes me upset, like I’m giving away a child." Charbel Naffah will take over as the master of the workshop from his father, while Youssef Naffah assists during his breaks from medical school.
Youssef, who is 57 years old, noted that the village of Beit Chabab has six churches and said, "Traditions are important to us. We are living and breathing tradition here in this workshop." The foundry walls remain blackened by decades of smoke from the furnace.
Naffah stated, "I hate giving the bells away, it always makes me upset, like I’m giving away a child."
Naffah
