The new Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral of San Francisco has been coming to fruition since last year at Valencia and 14th Street. What with its massive and dramatic dome, it's hard to miss. And on Saturday, a helicopter helped top of the whole shebang with a new cross.
As SFist reports, the cross itself measures nine feet high and weighs 470 pounds. Here it is being hoisted on top of the dome:
As for the church itself, The Pappas Post notes:
The church, founded by early Greek immigrants to the Bay Area in 1921 as a splinter community of followers sympathetic to Greek prime minister Eleftherios Venizelos, grew so rapidly that they bought the Valencia Street Theater, known as the "grandest, most beautiful of the West" and the place George Burns got his start.
The community went bankrupt during the Great Depression only to be restored by faithful years later who insisted on saving their church. Over the decades the church stood as the core of the Greek community of San Francisco until 5:04pm on October 17, 1989 when the devastating Loma Prieta earthquake struck, effectively destroying the entire building.
Following plans to relocate the parish to a new location, the community ultimately decided to rebuild on existing land and a construction permit was granted October 17, 2013— 24 years to the date of the devastating earthquake. Construction commenced shortly thereafter.
Here's what the dome looked like a little over a year ago:
"View from above." A view of the new Cathedral structural steel dome. Looking northwest. pic.twitter.com/CwfatTvTOc
— Annunciation SF (@annunciationsf) May 19, 2015
And here's a close-up shot of the cross being affixed to the dome:
No word yet when the house of worship will open. We'll update when they do.