Golden opportunity: An inside look at how the Gold Dome is getting a shiny new coat

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ATLANTA — If it looks like the Gold Dome on top of the state capitol is extra shiny these days, that’s because it is.

For the first time in 25 years, workers and artisans replaced the gold leaf that lines the dome and only Channel 2 Action News got access to the project.

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For nearly four months, a complex scaffolding wrapped one of the most iconic symbols of the State of Georgia: the Gold Dome.

Hidden inside, dozens of artisans, like Anne Domenech, stripped off and then reapplied the 40 ounces of real 24-karat gold leaf to the underlying backing.

“It comes in either sheets that are pressed on wax paper. It’s painstaking, laborious work only done once every 25 years,” she told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot.

“We’ve been needing to have the Capitol regilded for about four years. Had some deterioration on there. The gold’s kind of dissipated, very thin layer of gold,” said Gerald Pilgrim with the Georgia Building Authority. “But the gold dome hasn’t always been gold.”

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Check out a picture from the early 1950s and you’ll see the dome was more of a dull gray.

But lawmakers decided they could gild it with gold from Dahlonega, site of the first gold rush in America. That first job needed seven pounds of gold.

With advances in technology, they only need 40 ounces now for the whole job.

“So it’s a very delicate process and so they have to do it, and they apply it on there, and it’s thinner than a sheet of paper,” Pilgrim told Elliot.

Domenech demonstrated how she applies the strip of gold leaf, then peels it away, leaving the gold behind. She then uses a brush to smooth it out and whisk away any leftover gold.

This whole process takes about four months, including the two months it takes to both build and then dismantle this very complicated scaffolding.

But when it’s done, Pilgrim says the Gold Dome will shine like it hasn’t since 1999 and be that symbol of Georgia that he’s always looked up to.

“I hope it’s a symbol that shows, you know, we honor our heritage. We honor the past in Georgia. We’re looking forward to the future and the state of Georgia has a bright future ahead of it,” he said.

The project’s price tag is about $5 million. It is part of a general Capitol renovation project that has been going on for over a year and will take more than a year to complete.

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