| We realised that we would arrive at a holiday weekend (Memorial
Day) and so we had booked our site for the weekend in advance. Thus we came
to Salt Lake City and a stay at the KOA campground a short distance from the
city centre, which revolves around Temple Square. This is the Mormon temple
which was started when the Mormons arrived in 1853 and took 40 years to
build. It is made of granite from a local quarry (a mere 25 miles away). It
is in a 35 acre walled site in the centre of the city. |  |
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You (as a non-Mormon) are not allowed inside so it is difficult to rank it
alongside other cathedral-style churches but I think I was not quite as
impressed as I should be. But then I compare most places to York Minster!
which took a little longer to build. It is also slightly unfair since the
role of a temple is different to that of a cathedral. In fact the temple is
not even open on a Sunday (or a Monday). Services are held in a Meeting
House. Even the Tabernacle here is close. It was also quite difficult to
photograph with the wall all around and the city buildings towering above
it. |
| It was surrounded by some very nice gardens and other buildings.
The big white building is the Joseph Smith Memorial Building/Utah Hotel
which is a listed building and holds the Family Search centre amongst other
things. Note there is also a Family History centre the other side of the
temple. We went on a guided tour of the temple complex. This excluded the
Temple and the Tabernacle, which is undergoing 'seismic' renovations. This
was a pity because that looked an impressive building too.
The tours were almost constant and given by young female 'missionaries'
who were altogether too zealous and thus imparted little of real value to
non-believers. The older guides we met were much more subtle. We went back
on Monday to talk to a couple of the older staff there and that was much
more interesting. |  |
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Towering above the temple was this huge edifice which is the administration
office. Whilst a good building of its type, having a building of such height immediately
adjacent to the
temple is an unfortunate example of US town planning. (we have seen much
worse). Otherwise Salt Lake
City is a very well laid out city with streets "wide enough to turn an ox
team and cart in" as originally planned. When you consider there are 12
million Mormons worldwide who contribute a significant part of their income
to the church, you realise that this is a big business and its leaders are
very shrewd businessmen. But despite that there are not the signs of poverty
here which we have seen so much of elsewhere in the US. So perhaps some
charity begins at home. |
| The gardens were particularly worthy of note providing a quiet
area with water features and space for contemplation. Many of the plants
were familiar and indeed it could have been an English country garden given
the varieties in bloom at this time. They were also beautifully kept -
presumably by other folk on a 'mission'. |  |
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There were several statues about but not as massive as one might expect nor
as overtly religious. This was a statue of Joseph Smith, their first
'Prophet' who was eventually murdered by 'other' believers. He never made it
to Salt Lake City, the pioneers were led b his successor, Brigham Young. It would have
been better if the 'missionaries' had told us a bit more about the history
and tried a little less hard to proselytize. I had many questions but not
ones I thought they would be able to answer. I did ask one if there were any
women in positions of authority. Her response was that God had not yet
called any. Such faith is noble but I suspect misguided. |
| I do know they place great score on the family and children and
yet I didn't find a single statue of a 'family'. There were these children
dancing, and mothers and children but.... We took one of the tours with some
children and the missionaries had them singing the songs they had learnt at
Sunday School. Not a lot different to many other religions really. |  |
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The most impressive building was this one just across the road. This was the
conference centre. It is huge with an auditorium which holds 21,000 people.
The church uses it twice a year for Conferences, but it is also used by
other organisations for acceptable events, mainly artistic and cultural. The roof holds a garden over the whole which is
seeded with wild flowers and plants which are naturally self propagating. It
is automatically irrigated and is reputed to have cost over $240 million.
It offers fine views over the city. They run tours
of that (I'm not sure why you have to have a guide unless they want another
go at you). We had an 80 year old man and he was an absolute joy to talk to.
click
to see more of the design |
| On Sunday morning we went to a free concert in this hall (along
with about 7000 others). This was a televised live performance by the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir, orchestra and organ. The two large screens either side of
the stage showed the TV output. This is syndicated worldwide. This was an
outstandingly professional presentation and the acoustics are such you could
hear a pin drop. There are no pillars to obscure the view and when you
consider you have a granite ceiling and a garden above, this is nothing but
an architectural marvel of a building. We did have a tour of the building
again by 'missionaries' but that was again disappointing. |  |
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The roof does overlook the Temple Square so we had another opportunity to
look at the fine architecture of the JSMB/Utah Hotel and the surrounding
gardens. |
| And a last look at the temple, taken from the observation deck on
the top of the office building. This also gives the only opportunity we
found to get an idea of the size of the Tabernacle (behind it). |  |
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