Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral

The dream of building the first cathedral in North Carolina became a reality when the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh broke ground in 2015. However, roofing the dome posed a unique challenge since it was constructed on the ground. A special crane was needed to hoist the 160-ton colossal copper dome to the top of the cathedral. It took about an hour to raise the dome from the ground and lower it onto the framework where it was secured to the rest of the structure. Then the crane hoisted up the 16-foot-tall copper spire and secured it to the cathedral. The entire dome stands at 88 feet tall and weighs nearly 320,000 pounds. The massive copper dome atop of the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral is visible for miles around the area of West Raleigh.