One year after the completion of the works to strengthen the gilded columns of the Holy Shrine of Aba Al-Fadl Al-Abbas (peace be upon him)..

It has been one year that the technical and engineering staff working on strengthening the gilded columns of the holy shrine of Aba Al-Fadl Al-Abbas (peace be upon him) have completed all its works, and gold is covering these columns giving them a new look. This work was the result of intensive studies and laboratory tests carried out by a group of experts and specialists in this field, who were called by the engineering projects department at the Al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine to see the affordability of these columns to bear the weight of the new roof of the holy shrine, and the studies have proven that they were unable to bear the new project.
The completion stages of this project included:
The first stage: Studying the columns ability to bear the weights of the new roof of the holy shrine with all its annexes, by calculating them according to engineering mechanism to see the readiness of the columns to withstand these weights, in addition to developing an action plan to complete the treatment along with identifying the material and the proceeding way, which takes into account the latest modern techniques used in this area.
The second stage: Removing the installed material on the ten columns, four of which are of 9 m height and the other six of 6 m.
The third stage: The strengthening works using Carbon fiver, which is the same modern technology used in the construction operations because of its strong rigidity and high resistance to the chemical and climate effects. The columns were covered by this material in accordance with specific criterias.
The Fourth stage: Installing the steel structure that was formed with the same dimensions and size of each columns by a thickness of 1 cm of high-purity iron (stainless steel) connected by materials making it an integral part of the column structure then covered by other chemical substances.
The fifth stage: Covering these columns with gold slabs which have been manufactured in the workshops of the holy shrine using the technique of knocking on suede, which has proven its efficiency in all the gilding works in the holy shrine. The slabs were installed in the form of straight lines surrounding the hull of the column using a hidden installing technique, to give it an aesthetic look and longer life. Using 216 slabs of 9 meters height, and 136 gold slabs of 6 meters height.
After the completion of these stages, the bearing strength of these columns became four times what it could bear in the past according to the tests and studies carried out by the Engineering Projects Department, which included many studies...