Preservation Update: Mesa Temple Renovation Details

I apologize for the missing weeks of blog posts--I was out of town and didn't get around to writing a new post before I left. However, while I was gone, I was thrilled to see the recent Mormon Newsroom article about the upcoming Mesa Arizona Temple. It's great to breakdown the changes that will be coming.

The biggest question--which isn't confirmed yet--is whether this renovation will restore progression to the Endowment ceremony of the temple. The temple's progression was removed in its renovation in the 1970s. As a result, the creation, garden, and world rooms became rooms 1, 2, and 3. In a later renovation, a fourth, completely new stationary room was added. The terrestrial room became the veil room.

Mesa Temple Floor Plan (For details see the post on the Mesa Temple)

One promising sign: the Mormon Newsroom named the photos of the rooms by their original names (creation, garden, world, etc.). Another: there is no projected image of stationary room 4, just the original 3 progression rooms. This gives me hope that the progression will be restored.

Digital Image of Post-renovation Creation Room (Image Source: Mormon Newsroom) 

Should the progression not be restored, we still have the assurance that murals in the temple will be restored. In fact, the article says that "new murals will be added in some locations to complement the originals." What does this mean?

Digital Image of Post-renovation Garden Room (Image Source: Mormon Newsroom)

When the temple was renovated in the 1970s, workers were told that the murals would not be used again, so they tore them off in the easiest way--usually, in pieces. In the 1990s, the small pieces of the mural that were saved were restored and placed in each stationary room--a piece of the creation and garden murals, and two pieces of the world mural, one for each room.

Based on the images, it certainly looks like the portions of the murals that were lost in each room will be re-created--or at least, re-done in a manner that complements the originals. This is exactly what I'd like to see. The murals aren't being entirely redone--a blank space is left at the front for the movie projection--but this is great news. I hope the murals are done to recreate the originals as best as we can.

Original World Room, Mesa Temple

A comparison of the rooms as they originally were and as they look post-renovation is promising. You'll notice the world room's mural definitely matches the original. I suppose in a perfect world, they would have done the murals at the front of the room and had a screen come down, as is done in the Idaho Falls Temple--but this is so encouraging, I can't complain.

Digital Image of Post-renovation Terrestrial Room (Image Source: Mormon Newsroom)

This is a renovation that looks extremely promising. Hopefully, its principles will be applied to a forthcoming renovation of the St. George Temple, and possibly Logan (to some extent). It's going to be a long wait!