Are domes that are a golden colour on churches/mosques/other buildings actually gold?

Question

It seems to me it would be very unsafe for that to be a reality. But is it true?

Answer 1

Many gold-colored domes and such are gold-plated, or gilded.  Plate and gildings are very very thin layers of actual gold onto an underlying structure -- so thin that the dome of Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock shrine -- see the attached -- is plated with "only" 80 kilograms of pure gold -- worth over $8.2 million.

The layer of gold is ornamental, and doesn't add any significant weight to a structure (it can literally be as thin as a coat of paint).