Temple Square

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This photo of Temple Square, circa 1897, shows that the plot housed the tallest buildings in Salt Lake City at the time, namely the Salt Lake Temple, Tabernacle and Assembly Hall.

Temple Square is a ten acre (40,000 m²) area located in Salt Lake City, Utah, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon or LDS Church). Contained within Temple Square are the Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake Tabernacle, Salt Lake Assembly Hall, the Seagull Monument and two visitor's centers.

With 3 million to 5 million visitors a year, it is the most popular tourist attraction in Utah. For comparison, Utah's five National Parks —Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches— had a combined total of 5.3 million visitors in 2005.^[1]

1 History
2 Visitors' Centers
3 Adjacent blocks
4 Notes
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

Salt Lake Temple at Christmas time.

In 1847, when Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, Church president Brigham Young selected a plot of the desert ground and proclaimed, "Here we will build a temple to our God."^[2] When the city was surveyed, the block enclosing that location was designated for the temple, and became known as Temple Square.

It also became the headquarters of the LDS Church. Other buildings were built on the plot, including a tabernacle (prior to the one occupying Temple Square today) and endowment house, both of which were later torn down. The Salt Lake Tabernacle, home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, was built in 1867 to accommodate the General Conferences of the Church, with a seating capacity of 6,000. Another church building called the Assembly Hall was later built with a seating capacity of 2,000.

[edit] Visitors' Centers

Christus statue in North Visitors' Center

Today, Temple Square also features two visitors' centers, called the North Visitor's Center and the South Visitor's Center. The North Visitor's Center was built first and features a replica of The Christus, a statue of Jesus Christ by Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen. The Christus is located in a domed room with large windows, painted with clouds, stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies. The visitors' centers and grounds are staffed by Sister Missionaries^[3] and Senior Missionary Couples exclusively; no single male missionaries are called to serve on Temple Square. These Sister Missionaries serving on Temple Square are called from North America as well as around the world, speaking enough languages to cater to the vast majority of visitors from around the world.

The Assembly Hall at Temple Square at Christmas time.

Sister missionaries come from many different countries, and are able to provide tours and information in their home languages as well as English. Beginning with the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Sisters have been wearing tags with their national flags along with their missionary name tags, to make it easier for visitors to identify Sisters from their respective Nations.

[edit] Adjacent blocks

As the Church has grown, its headquarters has expanded into the surrounding area. In 1917, an administration building was built on the block east of the temple, to be followed in 1972 by the twenty-eight story LDS Church Office Building, which was, for many years, the tallest building in the state of Utah. The Hotel Utah, another building on this block, was remodeled in 1995 as additional office space and a large film theatre and renamed the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. In 2000, the Church purchased the block of Main Street between this block and Temple Square and connected the two blocks with a plaza called the West Church Plaza.

A museum and genealogy library are located on the block west of Temple Square. In 2001, the Church completed a new, 21,000 seat Conference Center on the block north of Temple Square.

Because of these facilities, Temple Square (and the surrounding blocks) has become a popular tourist destination, with five million visitors annually, more than the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park. The grounds, which feature a number of gardens, often host concerts and other events; during the Christmas holiday season, hundreds of thousands of lights sparkle from trees and shrubs around Temple Square. The lighting of Temple Square at this time is a popular event, attended by hundreds.

Temple Square is surrounded by a high, granite wall that was built shortly after the block was designated for the building of the temple. The gates outside Temple Square are popular places for those critical of the Church where critics, mainly excommunicated former members and activist evangelical ministers, often picket and hand out tracts and literature critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are also well-known locations for street musicians to perform, especially during the holiday season.

[edit] Notes

^ Temple Square still top tourist attraction in Utah. Jim Graham, The Associated Press.
^ Quoted in The Salt Lake Temple. Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, March 1993, 2.
^ http://www.templesquareworld.com/missionaries.html

[edit] References

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