In preparation for the 70th anniversary of the Church of All Russian Saints founding in 2022, the Burlingame CA parish successfully completed the renovation of church cupolas. The painting and gilding of five church cupolas were performed in less than 2 months. This was an expensive project encompassing scaffolding, painting the four blue cupolas, the cost of the double-weight 24k gold leaf, and the laborious work of applying 36,000 sheets of gold leaf to the cupolas and to the 132 stars on the blue cupolas. Total cost was close to $160,000. By God’s Providence, parish balance in the Stewardship Fund was exactly $160,000 which allowed funding the project.
The photo report and a timeline below briefly highlight the project progress:
- November 8-11, 2021: Erecting the scaffolding.
- November 12: Removed the stars from the cupolas.
- November 13: Removed the Crosses from the cupolas.
- November 15: Began the gilding (gold leaf) of the main cupola.
- November 17: Cleaning and painting the blue cupolas.
- November 18: Finished painting and plugging star holes on the blue cupolas.
- December 1: Finished gilding the main dome. Needed to wait 2 weeks for final burnishing.
- December 6: Stars and crosses cleaned and prepared for gilding.
- December 8: Gilding the tops of the blue cupolas and cross above the front doors.
- December 9-17: Gilding of the cupola skirts, crosses and the 132 stars.
- December 17-18: Gilded stars and skirts installed on cupolas.
- December 19: Blessing of the crosses at the Choir Concert.
- December 28: Father Stefan blessing the main cupola.
- December 29: Scaffolding taken down.
Glory be to God for all things! We thank the participants for their donations, sacrifice of time and effort. May God bestow His many blessings upon you!
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