MORMON TEMPLE

Salt Lake City, Utah

The Salt Lake Temple was built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are known as Mormons, in what is now the state of Utah. The 253,015 square-foot temple with 170 rooms is the most well-known of over 129 Mormon temples. It has come to symbolize the Church around the world. In July of 1847, the first group of Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, seeking freedom from religious persecution back east. Construction of the temple began on February 14, 1853, as a vision of church leader Brigham Young. Young stated that he wanted “to see the Temple built in a manner that would endure through the Millennium.” Workers hand-chiseled massive granite blocks weighing between 2,500 and 5,600 pounds from a nearby granite deposit, where they were transported by ox-drawn wagon and later railroad to the temple lot. The stones were cut to fit together without mortar and the walls at the base of the temple are nine feet thick. The gothic temple was built under the guidance of Young, who worked with architect Truman O. Angell.

My hotel during the 2007 Rotary Convention stood directly across the street from the Temple, and next to the Mormon Library, a mecca for genealogy researchers from around the world. Finding a good view from which to sketch this temple was not easy. The only time the sun played well on the best view was for an hour or two at sunrise. After that, larger buildings to the east shaded the church. It took a number of early morning visits to complete the sketch of this elaborately detailed building.