Temple Square: The Mormon Temple

Temple Square's most recognizable building is the Mormon Temple, but the square actually contains 15 buildings, including the Tabernacle (home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), the Assembly Building, the Conference Center, visitor centers, office buildings and historical buildings.

This post is about the Temple Building. The next post will cover some of the other buildings.

The Salt Lake City Temple is the center of Temple Square. Just days after Brigham Young entered the area in 1847, he determined this would be the site of the Temple. Work began in 1853, and the Temple was completed in 1892. It was the first of the original buildings to be started, and the last to be completed.

In front of the building is a statue of Brigham Young, who lead the Mormon Migration to Salt Lake City, was the second president of the church, and the first governor of Utah Territory.

One function of the Temple is weddings -- and we saw this new husband and wife as we came in:

Non-Mormons are not allowed inside the Temple. To satisfy our curiosity of what lies behind the huge wooden doors, the church has built an amazing replica of the Temple with cut-away views. The 1/32 scale model is housed in the South Visitor Center. It is 88 inches tall, and weighs between 600 and 800 pounds. Each room in the Temple was recreated by craftsmen using photos of the actual temple. A touch-screen display next to the model shows actual photos and allows zooming in to see details.

Guess what? The inside doesn't look anything like a huge cathedral space, which is what I, and most non-Mormons have always thought. It has rooms such as the Celestial Room, the Assembly, and the Baptistry. Here is the model:

And here are close-ups of the rooms:

The next image shows the touch-screen display with a photo of the Baptistry. Comparing it to the model photo above shows the extreme level of detail that the model provides.

This model was erected in 2010. For more information about the model, check out this video created by the LDS Church.

Next post: the other buildings on the Square.