St. Paul Orthodox Church in Naples Dome: Re-Gilded!

An explanation of why the usually gold dome of St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church here in Naples was unexpectedly black.

Then, this afternoon, Bev and I drove by the church in bright sun and voila! the dome was gold again. The dark, almost black surface was just one step in the preparation for re-guilding the dome. Any surface to be covered in gold foil must be smooth and absolutely clean. The black colored material was probably a proprietary underlayment upon which to apply the extremely thin 23.8K gold leaf which is now commercially available in large sheets with a protective top layer and an easy-peel-away backing.

A good assumption is that the underlying dome is copper. It used to be that the preferred underlayment materials contained lead, zinc and a host of other environmentally unfriendly elements now banned by the EPA. So manufacturers have come up with new recipes and the one used on this project was quiet dark grey.

On the internet, I found a good example of the renovation of a similar dome at Notre Dame University. That job involved the application of 3,500 square feet of 23.9-karat gold leaf. Less than eight ounces of gold, roughly a fist full, was used in the process*. Gold is so malleable that this small amount can be pounded out and used to cover the entire dome. The material is just 3-microns thick and so delicate that workers can apply it only in wind-free weather conditions. The re-gilding process was done strictly by hand; no machines were used in the effort.

* The spot price for an ounce of 24K gold today was $1,720 so that 8 ounces would cost only $13,760.