Salt Lake Temple: Interior

Note: This is one of a series of posts on the interiors and floor plans of historic temples:
1. St. George Temple (1877)
2. Logan Temple (1884)
3. Manti Temple (1888)
4. Salt Lake Temple (1893)
5. Laie Temple (1919)
6. Cardston Temple (1923)
7. Mesa Temple (1927)
8. Idaho Falls Temple (1945)

This post is about the temple's floor plan. For information and updates on the temple's 2019 renovation, see here. 

I was originally not planning on doing a post on the Salt Lake Temple, because it has been extensively covered on many other sites. However, I've found the original source of many of the pictures that float around on the internet (The Salt Lake Temple: A Monument to the People), and so was able to get scans that are much higher quality than other photos. I've also found some photos from various (Church-sanctioned and approved) sources that help to piece together the building for those who haven't been able to attend a session here. Most of those come from stills I've taken from The Mountain of the Lord (a Church film about the Salt Lake Temple) and Temples, a short Church video that describes the use of temples.

The Salt Lake Temple is a landmark building, inside and out. Those who have attended other pioneer temples will immediately notice that the Salt Lake Temple is much more ornate and detailed than the temples in St. George, Logan, and even Manti (although Manti is much closer to its level). It, along with Manti, is one of the two temples where a live endowment is performed, instead of film.

The ground floor of the temple is split into two halves, divided by a hallway which patrons enter from the annex. It is fairly evident when you come into this room from the annex--the building is much more ornate than the annex.

(Image Source: Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 29 No. 3)

This is the view of the hallway as patrons enter the temple. (The temple is not nearly as whitewashed now; this photo was taken around 1980. A lot of the natural wood color has been returned, which is a relief.) On the west side (right part of the photo) is the baptistry.

The doors and rooms on the sides of the baptistry were originally used for the initiatory ordinances. Now, they've been changed to dressing rooms.

The lower hallway itself has some nice paintings. There is one by Dan Weggeland that shows Christ. There are also two by Alfred Lambourne that you'll see right as you enter the hallway. One is The Hill Cumorah, painted in 1892. (The hill is painted to look much larger than it is in real-life, emphasizing its doctrinal and historical importance.)

The other is Adam-Ondi-Ahman (also likely painted in 1892). Originally, there was some discussion about hanging this painting over the veil in the Celestial Room, but it was instead placed in the lower hallway.

On the south side (left) of the hallway are the creation room and garden room. The creation room is immediately on the left upon entering the temple proper. It originally had no murals, but they were added in 1915 by Fritjob Wiberg. No animals are in this creation room, which is different from most others.

(The chairs are facing toward the garden room in the first photo. They no longer face that way; they face toward the small door that provides access to the northeast tower.)

Patrons leave this room, heading south into the garden room up a small ramp. This is the view of the room as you enter:

Some notes: the 3 doorways lead to small recesses, but there was originally a small greenhouse connected there that had living plants.

The center doorway used to have a small lift that was used by temple workers in the endowment. President McKay apparently thought that it did not achieve its intended effect and was more distracting than anything else, so it was also removed.

The murals here was painted by John Hafen, helped by Edwin Evans. Lorus Pratt helped with the foliage, while Dan Weggeland did the animals. Much of this needed to be re-painted in 1938. Only the right front wall has original paint.

This is the view from the recess on the right of the above photo. The door goes to the southeast tower stairwell, but it's not used by patrons or workers. It could be used as an emergency exit.

The murals in this room are lovely, with vibrant green and blue colors. The ceiling is higher, and there is a type of skylight (lit with electricity) in the center of the room. At the front of the skylight is the all-seeing eye. You can see this in this next picture, which is the view of the garden room as patrons exit to proceed up the grand staircase.

Patrons emerge out onto this landing, and proceed up the staircase. As they do, they pass a stained glass depiction of Adam and Eve being cast out of the garden. The stained glass used to be located near the entrance to the world room, but it was moved when an elevator was placed there.

This is the view as patrons reach the top of the staircase. Straight ahead is the door that leads to the Celestial Room. When patrons are finished with their session, they come out of that door and go down the staircase. On the right is a large painting titled Christ Appears to the Nephites, painted by William Armitage in 1890. Nearly 12 feet tall, it's a beautiful painting that showcases Armitage's European training. Armitage painted another large work titled Joseph Smith Preaching to the Indians, and it hung in the lower hallway of the temple for over 50 years. It's now in the Church's archives.

As the patrons come up the grand staircase, they get this glimpse of the Celestial Room ahead, but they turn left to enter the world room.

(Image Source: Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 29 No. 3)

Now on the second floor, patrons enter the world room. Here, the in place of the serene murals of the garden room, the paintings depict animals fighting, rugged landscapes, and other signs of the world we live in. This mural was painted by Dan Weggeland, Edwin Evans, and John B. Fairbanks. The mural was painted onto plaster which began to chip off, so in 1922 John and his son, J. Leo Fairbanks, re-painted the room, using the initial sketches to duplicate the original murals. This is the view as you enter:

Both of the doorways at the front are used during the endowment. When it's time to leave this room and enter the terrestrial room, patrons take the door on the right.

Looking back into the room as you exit:

The terrestrial room is beautiful--ornate carvings, stained glass, and a gracefully curved veil at the front. The windows in this room are artificially lit, as the addition of sealing rooms is now behind the wall.

Better colors in this one:

Looking from the veil toward the back of the terrestrial room:

Finally, patrons enter the celestial room on the other side of the veil. The ceiling is high and takes up the floor above; colorful floral paintings grace the walls, and other ornate designs are available to view.

There are 4 major doors that you can see in the photo above. The one on the far left, up the small staircase, used to be an office, but it has since been changed to a beautiful sealing room, flooded with natural light (because it is located in the central east tower). The next one is the sealing room for the living; the one on the far right is the original sealing room for the dead (pictures below). The one in the center, with its doors closed, leads up to the Holy of Holies, a special room reserved for use by the Prophet.

Looking at the Celestial Room from the small staircase that leads up to the tower room:

This is a photo of a small statue above the veil as you enter the celestial room. The explanations for this statue are varied: that it is Christ (albeit a feminine-looking one), that it is Mary and was donated by the Catholic church, or that it is Aphrodite (since it looks like a seashell). Other people say it is Heavenly Mother or the Roman goddess Venus. Which is it?

In An Eye of Faith: Essays in Honor of Richard O. Cowan, one article, titled "The Woman at the Veil," seeks to answer this:

"The true origins stem back to Joseph Don Carlos Young, the architect of the Salt Lake Temple, after the death of Truman O. Angell in 1887.  His great contribution to the temple was a redesign of the interior plan, which included the original interior furnishings.  While in Boston at the advice of his father Brigham, Don Carlos, as he was called, saw a statue made by a young sculptor.  Fascinated by it, he purchased it and busts of two cherubs.  Dubbed the “Angel of Peace,” probably by its sculptor, Young had it enlarged to a full-size, six-foot statue.  The original had wings, because it supposedly represented a female “heavenly being.”  Young took the wings from his original and apparently directed that the copy be made without wings as well.  It is not certain, but the authors believe Cyrus Dallin, the sculptor of the Angel Moroni on the Salt Lake Temple was likely the sculptor of this piece too....It is certain, however, that it does not represent Mary, Venus, or Aphrodite."

Here's a better view of the sealing room for the living. Before the addition of many more sealing rooms on the north side, this room was used for live sealings.

This is the view as you enter. On the opposite side is a door leading to a small waiting room.

This is a view as you stand in that sealing room, looking back toward the door into the celestial room.

Here are some views of the sealing room for the dead. The stained glass shows the Angel Moroni and the Prophet Joseph Smith.

 

 

This temple is truly breathtaking. Few temples can compare to it and Manti.

The endowment rooms only take up the first two floors of the temple. The third floor is all administration rooms. The only way to get to these floors is from the elevators or spiral staircases in the corner towers:

(Image Source: Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 29 No. 3)

Here is where the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles meet every week. This floor is not as tall as the others, and much of the floor is taken up by the higher ceiling of the celestial room and Holy of Holies below.

One of the most beautiful stained glass windows in the temple, called the Memorial Window, is found on this floor. It shows the temple flanked by a pair of shields. This is the view of it from the High Council Room.

Finally, taking up the top floor of the temple is the Priesthood Assembly Room, one of the larger ones of the Church, and certainly the most ornate. (Other assembly rooms are found in St. George, Manti, Logan, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Nauvoo Temples. The Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple also has a priesthood assembly room--the only international temple to do so--but that probably merits another post.)

(Image Source: Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 29 No. 3)

 A full balcony runs along both sides. Pulpits at both ends are found under decorative arches--one labelled Aaronic and the other, Melchizedek.

This assembly hall is used regularly, particularly before General Conferences. It was in this assembly room that the general authorities of the Church were notified of Official Declaration 2, and sustained it unanimously.

This is the view as you enter the assembly hall from the corner staircases.

On each end of the assembly hall are a series of pulpit and an elaborate pavilion; one represents the Aaronic Priesthood; the other, the Melchizedek.

If you want to sit on the balcony, you ascend one of the beautiful spiral staircases in each corner.

I really like the Salt Lake Temple. Some parts of the architecture were whitewashed in the past, but I feel that the Church has been more sensitive to the original architecture in recent decades, and the 2019-2024 renovation looks especially promising. If you attend this temple, don't be afraid to explore the 3 sealing rooms off of the Celestial Room and take a close look at the paintings in the upper and lower hallways. When I've gone, I've never been rushed and there are some great historic things to see.