We're still about 2 years away from the Salt Lake Temple renovation being completed, and we got another update this weekend that confirmed a few things, for better or for worse.
Of course, Church leaders are trying to balance many different considerations when overseeing new and existing temples, and historic preservation is just one of those factors. This blog, though, focuses on historic architecture, so I'm mostly going to focus on what is being kept and what is not.
What is being preserved:
- Almost all of the second floor of the temple, including the terrestrial room (which will now be a veil room, but will be mostly preserved), the celestial room, the original sealing rooms off of the celestial room (not the one in the east tower, which was a later addition, but the sealing room for the living and the sealing room for the dead),
- The assembly hall on the top two floors of the temple, which includes really beautiful woodwork and spiral staircases,
- The spiral staircases in the four corner towers,
- The temple's stained glass.
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One exciting part of the newsroom release (for me) was the first color image I've seen of the memorial window, which is installed on the temple's third floor (where administrative offices are).
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What is being removed/heavily reconfigured:
- Basically, tne temple's entire basement floor will be new. The creation and garden rooms, as well as the original baptistry, are all being replaced with stationary rooms. Even the grand staircase was removed and is being recreated.
- The world room on the second floor will be replaced with a stationary room, as well.
- The woman at the veil in the celestial room, and presumably the sealing room in the east tower, will be removed.
- The temple's entire third floor (administrative offices) is likely being gutted and redone, and probably reconfigured a bit to better meet modern Church administrative needs.
- Murals, progression, and the live endowment are all being discontinued.
This is not to say that "redone" areas of the temple will feel like, say the interior of the Logan Temple (a complete mismatch). They are recreating the late Victorian-era design of the temple everywhere, in redone areas as well as new ones, including the annex. (The former Salt Lake Temple annex did not try to be Victorian at all.)
What are my feelings on this? To be honest, at this point, I take what I can get. After 2021 I feel like things I took for granted would be preserved have been thrown out the window. We saw progression taken away from the Mesa Temple at the last minute (even though it was renovated to accommodate it!), and it wasn't even bothered in St. George. While I can understand efficiency concerns, I do struggle to see how this shift will actually result in the accomplishment of more temple work. The Salt Lake Temple rarely hit capacity, where people were turned away because there was no room in endowment sessions. Most likely it was certain evenings and weekends. In the case of Mesa and St. George, does having endowment sessions every 45 minutes (stationary) instead of every 60 (progressive) really result in more temple work? Or does it just...spread the same number of patrons into more sessions? Who knows.
I am very grateful that key areas of the temple are being preserved, and that this puts to rest some ridiculous rumors that started last year that the temple was completely gutted, top to bottom.
Will the world room mural be gone, too?
ReplyDeleteYes, that one will be gone, too.
DeleteI wonder what will happen to all the tower rooms, the bathrooms heading into the world room, the holy of holies, the ante rooms behind the two original sealing rooms and the holy of holies.
ReplyDeleteI understand why so much has been lost. The foundation was in a very poor state and by the sounds of it, could have collapsed under the weight of the temple. The original sandstone foundation was literally crumbling into dust and had massive voids in it.
It makes sense to redo the administration level as a lot of the council rooms were superfluous to need. The current work corrects decades of poor renovations, especially the 1960’s.
My guess is that the Holy of Holies is being preserved -- if they're preserving the sealing rooms that surround it, it's hard to see them taking that out. It's probably just not included in the release because many wouldn't know what it is
DeleteWhere are all the sealing rooms going? The annex on the side doesn’t look big enough to accommodate 20.
ReplyDeleteThe underground annex on the north side is huge. I imagine many will fit in there.
DeleteCheck out render for the new grand staircase. There is an interesting alcove at the top of the landing with an even more interesting looking sculpture. I wonder what that is.
ReplyDeleteI looked at a higher resolution photo, it looks like a modern sculpture of the First Vision.
DeleteGreat catch. It looks like it's specifically this one sculpture done by Kraig Varner in 2002: https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/images/museum/exhibits/2017-First-Vision-Artwork/First-Vision-Kraig-Varner-LDS-2013-107-3-v3-white-new.jpg
DeleteAlso on the rendering of the grand staircase, there is a pretty distinct black line that starts on the left side of the wall and goes all the way across the ceiling. Any idea what that might be?
DeleteI can understand the need to move away from live instruction. Film can accommodate 90+ languages in addition to allowing subtitles for patrons who are hard of hearing. What I don't understand is why progression needed to be discontinued completely in Salt Lake? Progression and film aren't mutually exclusive. There are six temples (Manti, Idaho Falls, Cardston, Laie, Nauvoo, Los Angeles) that show that it's entirely possible to use film while still keeping the 4-room progressive presentation. Now that the endowment is under an hour, it would have been totally possible to schedule more frequent sessions in the Salt Lake Temple while still keeping the former layout.
ReplyDeleteI can also understand the reasons why the murals could not be saved (plaster walls, base isolation system, etc...) but why not repaint them? I'm sure some artists would have been ecstatic for an opportunity to recreate them.
Overall, I have mixed feelings. Though I'm glad there's a more cohesive Victorian interior design between the annex and the temple proper, I fear that the Church has shot itself in the foot by prioritizing output and utilitarianism over utilizing art as an effective teaching tool for the endowment.
I agree. The explanations we get for the changes address some, but not all, of them.
DeleteWhat's the "memorial window"? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteOne of the Tiffany stained glass windows commissioned for the temple. It shows the temple flanked by a pair of shields with the building and dedication information. It's a window that commemorates the building itself, hence the name
Deletethanks.
DeleteI, too, was a bit sad when I learned of the revised renovations... but then I realized what these changes are really about. These changes will allow many more people who don't speak English to partake of the blessings of the Church's "flagship temple." The Church Office Building Plaza, with the flags of all the nations, now perfectly complements the expanded abilities of the Salt Lake Temple. The temples are going to get really, really busy. I believe our pioneer ancestors (mine included) who built this wonderful House of the Lord are cheering us on from the other side of the veil as the updates are made. They know! They know!
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the introduction of the film presentation is great for accessibility. However, there are several temples that use progression with murals with the film presentation. These temples also have accessible sessions regularly that are all in one room. So a somewhat more sensitive renovation could have been accomplished.
DeleteI've been thinking on my comment yesterday, and I wanted to add--while I personally disagree with many aspects of renovations and other decisions related to historic LDS buildings (since it is my area of interest), I am also a faithful member who sustains the leaders of the Church. I think sometimes people interpret my criticisms and laments as unfaithful. But I think history has strongly established that people can have differing opinions on these things (since they're not really crucial in eternal matters) and still be seen as faithful members.
DeleteIt is bizarre the the premiere temple’s endowment rooms will be more bland than the many across the world that have stunning murals. I just don’t get it.
ReplyDelete