Temple Square

12 Aug 2010--Yesterday Marie, Cathy and I went to Temple Square, a 35 acre complex with 16 buildings that belong to the Mormon Church. Some of the buildings are administrative buildings, so we didn't go to all of them.



The 1st building we went to was the Convention Center, a 21,000 seat performance center that was really beautiful. The center is used every afternoon during the summer for an "open to the public" organ recital, and every Thursday evening for an hour and a half practice by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (We are going to see them tonight.) The organ in this center has over 7700 pipes, while the one in the actual Tabernacle has over 11000. The recital lasted about 1/2 an hour, and the screens behind the stage changed color with each song. The organist is sitting in the lower, left hand corner of the stage.

From the Convention Center we went into one of the 2 Visitor Centers, this one having mostly a Jesus Christ theme. They started with a series of paintings laying out the significant events of Christ's life, and then upstairs had sort of a "Jesus in the round" display. The 11 foot statue is called the "Christus" and is carved from marble. The last pic here is a stitch for a better view.

The bottom floor had several displays of religious figures we would all be familiar with, like Abraham and Isaac, and then a whole section on Mormon figures that you would have to be familiar with that religion to follow. The best part about it was that while displays were of historical figures, they tended to have explanations relating to real life explaining a particular scripture. Very good for kids to understand.

Most of the buildings in the complex were in very close quarters or seemingly surrounded by trees, so it was almost impossible to get a picture of some of them. The Tabernacle where the choir usually performs was, unfortunately, one of them. This is a pic of the inside of the building...surprisingly small, and really not anywhere as nice as the Convention Center. This is the organ though that had over 11000 pipes, so I am sure it sounds beautiful.

Here is a stitch of the Assembly Hall, just a meeting place for them, but where there is another organ...I guess they are really into them because there are actually 4 major organs in this complex.

Finally, we got to the big kahoona...the Salt Lake Temple itself. This is really a very beautiful building on the outside (they won't let you in the inside), but we had to go into 2 other buildings before we could get a decent pic of it. For the 1st pic we had to up to the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith building and look out the window, while to get the 2nd pic we had to go to the other Visitor Center to see that view. (If look in the back, left of the Temple in the 1st pic, you can see a part of the Tabernacle.)

The Angel Moroni stands atop the Temple...he is the one who appeared to Joseph Smith and told him about the tablets buried somewhere in North America.

Inside the Visitor Center they have a mock-up of the Temple that shows us the inside. I thought that was very thoughtful of them, because I really wanted to see it. The picture of the mock up isn't that good, but it showed us series of very nice rooms and we given some info by a woman visitor who just happened to be in front of us. The 2nd pic here is a baptismal font, with the 12 head of cattle carrying it signifying the 12 tribes of Israel, where the last pic is just one of a very beautiful meeting room.

From Temple Square we headed over to the Cathedral of the Madeleine, a Catholic Church built in the early 1900s. Marie and Cathy weren't crazy about the color scheme, but I thought it was very festive, so I liked it. We tried to see a Presbyterian Cathedral also, but it was locked, so I didn't take a pic...haha

The 2nd pic shows an organ of our own...notice the trumpets, low/center.

This baptismal font has both a section for babies and a walk-in section for adults.

Oh, last but not least, we went to the Mormon book store across the street from Temple Square and I bought these books. I wanted a Book of Mormon to read out of curiosity, but when I looked at it I realized it was written like a Bible so I figured I wouldn't be able to follow it without some background info. So I got this starter book in the hope it will help me understand what it is they believe. I will keep you posted if I find anything interesting...haha