Into a book of mysteries to be read by those acquainted with fire, love and tradition: into the traditional, Istanbul-made cymbals.
The opening lines of this fairytale were written in a foundry in the basement of a church at the southwest corner of Istanbul somewhere between Yedikule and Samatya. An apprentice to an Armenian bell-maker from Kayseri would melt tin and copper here in the same pan in a process that would spread as a tradition throughout the entire world. In time, the apprentice who spent his childhood amidst the clank and din of the foundry operations became Zilciyan Usta, whose name was synonymous with the highest quality church bells. Of whom they said: “K. Zilciyan, master of bells whose peal is heard from the city’s opposite shore, of bells that never crack in a lifetime, master of hand-made bells.”

‘WEAPON OF SOUND’
Learning the family craft, son Avedis took over the foundry from his father.