I admittedly have a deep fascination with Mormonism. Growing up in Salt Lake City, I have been around the religion for most of my life. I'm definitely not someone who agrees with their theology or their claim that they are a Christian denomination, but this American-grown religion's short, volatile history and their modern-day people and practices are definitely interesting.
Last week, my family and I took Heidi and her parents (who were in SLC for Harrison's adoption hearing) downtown to Temple Square for a tour. Here are a few photos of that trip:
Temple construction began within days of the Mormon pioneers settling in the Salt Lake Valley. It took 40 years for this intricate building to be completed. Its walls are nine feet thick and the outside is detailed with numerous astrological symbols (including earthstones, moonstones, sunstones, constellations, and the lunar phases).
One thing I find particularly fascinating is the architecture of the buildings are at Temple Square. The fact that these simple pioneers were able to design and build such detailed and ornate structures is amazing to me. This six-spire, Gothic-style building is the largest of all the temples worldwide (over 100).
The granite used to build the temple was quarried from Little Cottonwood Canyon 20 miles away. It took days for each block to be hauled from the canyon to the temple site. Though construction on the Salt Lake Temple was the first to get underway, it was the fourth one completed.
One particular change I have noticed in the tour since I first took it is the fact that most, if not all, the tour guides are young women. The temple guides have been called to do their two-year mission in Salt Lake City (much like other faithful Mormons are called overseas). Our guides were Sister Meyers from Albuquerque and Sister Arnquist from Dallas.
The Assembly Hall was the first building at Temple Square to be completed (1877). It was built using small scraps of granite from the temple construction. This meeting place was where Mormon pioneers met for church in the early years. The building is now used for regular community concerts.
Inside the North Visitors Center, tourists will find huge, detailed murals of popular Old and New Testament stories and a large, interactive model of ancient Jerusalem. The centerpiece of the building, however, is the 11-foot marble Christus statue which stands in the middle of a gigantic mural of the universe. I'd be lying if I said it didn't creep me out a little.
Directly north of Temple Square is the new 21,000 seat Conference Center where large meetings are held (you've seen their painfully boring bi-annual television conferences, right?). This is also the building where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs. Mormon financial records are not made public, but the estimated cost for this building is over $240 million.
The Joseph Smith Memorial Building is east of Temple Square and was formerly the five-star Hotel Utah. This statue of Joseph Smith sits in the lobby. Mormonism's founding father is a very interesting figure. Descriptions of this man range from prophet of God to storyteller to philanderer. Despite his murky reputation, he definitely was a man of great influence and charm.
This final photo was taken from the top floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I think with a little work, this could easily be used as a postcard. If you are ever in Salt Lake City, I recommend that you spend a few hours to take the tour. I can guarantee you'll discover some things you never knew about Mormonism.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Mormon Temple Tour Photos
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9 comments:
I think all your pictures could be postcards...but if you sell them, you'll be directly responsible for supporting the "one and true church"...what a dilemma!
Amazing photos. I feel the same way as you about Mormonism. I don't believe they are a Christian religion but I find myself fascinated with their history. Have you read No Man Knows My History by Fawn Brodie? It's really insightful and interesting. Makes you wonder how so many were manipulated by Smith.
I was born and raised under the LDS veil...5th generation pioneer stock. I escaped the brainwash and, while these pics are amazing, they also make my stomach churn with anxiety. I just can't explain the flood of raw and painful emotion that overcomes my spirit at the mere sight of all mormon symbols.
Anonymous, I would love to know who you are and ask you a few questions about growing up in "the church". My family has a Mormon history as well, but my parents were never LDS. The surface of Mormonism looks so put-together and appealing, but I imagine there are many like you who are not fans of the religion and who leave for one reason or another. My email address is the2grays@hotmail.com -- If you have a few moments, I'd love to hear from you.
I'm totally baffled by this page... you write like someone who's well educated and good natured; you've got a really lovely family and a gift for taking nice photos. You apparently spent a nice day at Temple Square. You say some nice respectful things about the Latter-day Saints, and claim to have some interest in their history, beliefs, etc. But, what's baffling about it, is that sprinkled among those niceties are some pretty ugly, disrespectful, and really quite offensive comments about the very same people who, no doubt, treated you with kindness and respect while you were there.
Do you not understand why, for a faith community that believes, unequivocally, that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God and the literal Savior of mankind, the ONLY means through which Salvation can be obtained, etc. -- can you understand why a people whose entire faith is completely centered in those beliefs might be totally insulted by your casual assertion that you don't accept their "claim" to be Christians (as if that's all a front, like they're just pretending to worship Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior to keep up appearances)? Can you not see why that's a giant slap in the face to your gracious hosts, and a pretty dumb thing to say? Can you see why, to many people, Mormon and non-Mormon alike, that that makes you sound kind of ignorant and not-really-very-well-educated after all?
I challenge you, to come up with a definition of "Christian" that leaves Latter-day Saints out, but manages to includes all the other denominations that you would consider to be Christians. (And defining "Christian" as "someone who believes in the divinity of Christ, but who isn't a Mormon" doesn't count.) Truthfully, I don't seriously expect you to come up with a good answer, because I don't think such a definition is even possible.
Why is it that religious bigotry is only socially acceptable if it's aimed at Latter-day Saints? (And it is bigotry, whether you've realized it or not.) The kind of vitriol that you see, inevitably, in the comments on blog posts like this one, is kind of shocking if you mentally substitue the names of other worldwide religions.
By the way, to the commenter who thinks "No Man Knows My History" is good historical scholarship, you should read the article, "No Ma'am, That's Not History" by Hugh Nibley to get some hard-to-discredit perspective from a REAL scholar, about why Fawn Brodie's scholarship methods are demonstrably laughable. (For the record, I HAVE read No Man Knows...) Then, when you're done with that, read the definitive biography "Rough Stone Rolling," which leaves Fawn Brodie in the dust in terms of scholarly integrity. (There's a reason Fawn Brodie is credited with pioneering "Psychological Historiography" -- it's a nice term for pretending to know what an historical figure's thoughts, feelings and motives were, often with virtually no sources for those claims, and writing it down as historical fact.)
Mr. Madden,
Thank you for your comments. As I began to type out a response, I quickly realized that I was creating something that deserves a whole new post of its own.
http://michaelsgray.blogspot.com/2009/02/mormonisms-search-for-acceptance.html
I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on the new post and the thoughts of other LDS members as well. Just click my banner page to be taken to my "rebuttal".
Also, if you have a blog of your own, I'd love to read more of your writing. You seem to be a very capable communicator and I'm interested in reading more from you. You can email me at the2grays@hotmail.com if you are interested in sending me the link.
Thanks!
Mr. Madden,
I never claimed No Man Knows My History was "good historical scholarship" as you claim. My exact words were "interesting and insightful." There is a difference.
I'm LDS - The pictures are beautiful! They definitely could be used as post cards :) I must admit, some of the things you said eventhough they might be taken as disrespectful, I found rather funny. Our conferences do tend to be rather boring sometimes - I remember dreading them when I was younger, but now I find them a little more intreaguing depending on the speaker. And some of the statues can be intimidating at first. But I must also admit, that it does sting when people base their opinions of all of the LDS people off of what they hear, or off of the actions of a few people. We do our best to show respect to others, and really appreciate it when others do the same for us. We don't try to force our religion on other people, it's just something that makes us so happy, and fills us with so much joy, that sometimes it's hard to not try to share it with everyone else. So if we ever offend you or anything, please let us know - that's not our intention :) And I must say, The temple is breathtaking outside, but it's even better, and more peaceful inside. If you did send these pictures in to be turned into post cards or whatever, you wouldn't be blamed for supporting the "one and true church" you would just be blamed for sending in some beautiful pictures - people from all over the world who aren't even LDS come to see temple square, so I can promise you that's not a problem. Just out of curiosity, what did the rest of your family think about Temple Square?
Anonymous, thanks for visiting my blog, and for leaving a comment. I always appreciate when people who read my thoughts are also willing to take some time to be engaged in the conversation.
To answer your question, my family has long-enjoyed visiting Temple Square (we've been in SLC for over 25 years), and not because we want to mock another religion, but because it's a beautiful campus and the people are always friendly. We have also visited temples in other cities (We were even at the grand opening of the Las Vegas temple).
I have another post on Mormonism that you might be interested in reading. I’d love to have you participate in that conversation if you would like:
Mormonism's Search for Acceptance
Thanks for reading!
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