This was the day we had set aside for a tourist visit to Salt Lake City, so we set off fairly early. The hotel shuttle kindly took us to the nearest Trax station. Trax is an electric train but it runs on tracks through the city just like a tram - apart from the fact there are 8 or 10 coaches. I don't seem to have taken a photo of it, unfortunately - I don't know why. I was probably too busy getting on and off.
We got off at Temple Square and went in through the gates to see the Mormon Temple and its surrounding buildings.
This is my best photo of the Temple, though it's taken later in the visit, looking down from the 10th floor of another building. The building with the oval roof behind the Temple it is the Tabernacle. This is where you might hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Only Mormons can go into the Temple, but we walked round the outside. There were several weddings, with brides and bridesmaids in flimsy dresses, having their photos taken in front of the Temple or running about the gardens. Paul was regretting not wearing his long johns and a thermal vest, so they must have been very cold indeed.
You may be able to see a fountain and pool to the left of the Temple in my photo. It is in a garden in which there are statues of Joseph Smith and other people, showing various important events in his life. There is also mention of his martyrdom - we were later told he and his brother were jailed on something of a pretext in a neighbouring state and a lynch mob shot both of them. They obviously took their religion very seriously!
Another nearby building is the Assembly Hall, with Seagull Monument outside.
The monument is in thankfulness to God for his goodness to the Mormons - I don't understand the seagull reference at all.
Also outside the Assembly Hall is this statue group, called the Handcart Pioneer Monument.
This is described as a tribute to the thousands of Mormon pioneers who, because they could not afford ox-drawn wagons, walked across the plains in the 1850s pushing and pulling all their possessions in handcarts. The monument claims that although 250 died on the way, around 3000 people walked the 1350 miles from Iowa City. This seems to me such a hard journey, pulling and pushing a cart, I am amazed so many made it.
By then, Paul was freezing cold, so we went into one of the Visitors' Centres where we were greeted by two very friendly girls who asked us about ourselves and from whom we got the information about the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and his brother Hiram.
There was a lot of information about the Temple in this building, and a very interesting model of it, showing the various rooms inside. A room I didn't understand in the basement with 12 oxen in a circle supporting some sort of vessel turned out to be the baptismal font. Mormons use total immersion for baptism, which I didn't know. The twelve oxen represent the twelve tribes of Israel. There are many other rooms in the temple, some huge ones for worship and smaller ones for teaching. These latter rooms have very colourful murals completely covering the walls; for instance, the Garden Room represents the Garden of Eden and is used for teaching about Adam and Eve and the Garden and the power of temptation.
There were other interesting pieces of information, often illustrated with models and photographs.
The Temple took 40 years to build from granite blocks brought from 20 miles away from Little Cottonwood Canyon (where we have been skiing for the last two weeks.) The stones were rough cut and transported on ox-carts like the one below.
Once at Temple Square, the blocks were cut to the size needed, using hand tools, and hoisted into place using block and tackle. There were lots of examples of the hand tools used.
The Temple took 40 years as to build, and the walls are nine feet thick at the base and six feet thick higher up. Many of the builders were volunteers, though obviously some of the more skilled people were employed.
After that, we went out to have a look at the Tabernacle, the building in my Temple photo with the huge oval roof. It has an enormous organ - apparently there are 13,000 pipes. The building currently seats 5000, though it was originally build to hold 10,000. Some more spacious pews were installed so people were more comfortable, because it it was no longer large enough to hold all the people who came to conferences; there is now another building for conferences, which can hold 25,000.
I wanted to take a photograph inside, but the very friendly girl who gave us all the information on us began to practise her missionary skills on us, so we left before I had time for a photo.
Our last building was the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, which was originally a hotel and is now used for administration as well as housing two restaurants and a café. This is the entrance hall.
I'm afraid it came out rather dark, but I didn't like to use a flash, as it was full of people. In the opposite corner from where I am standing, which you can't really see in the murk, is a grand piano.
We went up to the 10th floor, where we were able to admire the view.
This is one side of the city, looking towards some of the mountains which surround it. This is also where I took the photo I posted first, of the Temple and some of the other buildings surrounding it.
The whole building is pretty impressive inside.
This is one part of the hall that runs along the public side of the 10th floor, showing some of the magnificent carpets and the stained glass ceiling. And yes, that is an indoor fountain.
Once downstairs again, we went outside to look at some of the other historic houses. The next photo is of the Lion House, so called because there's a lion sculpture on the front of it.
It originally belonged to Brigham Young and his extended family. From the front it looks like a small house, but I photographed it from the side to show how deep it was, with lots of bedrooms to accommodate all the wives and children. It now houses the Lion Pantry, where you can eat. It's next to another old house, referred to as the Beehive House, as there is a beehive, a common Mormon symbol of industry, on the roof. There are free tours of these old houses, but there wasn't one starting soon, and we weren't certain if we would meet more missionaries who would want to convert us, so we gave it a miss.
We made our way up a slight hill towards the Brigham Young Historic Park (which proved to be closed - it's only open in summer.) On the way, we passed the Eagle Gate.
This used to be a gateway which was closed at night for privacy when Brigham Young lived in the Square, but the gates were taken down when the road was widened. It is no longer the original eagle either - that was wood and didn't last well, so this is a replica. You may not be able to see it in my photo, but the eagle is on top of a beehive.
We were quite exhausted with all the sightseeing, but finding a cup of coffee in this area was a problem. Mormons do not approve of coffee, which Paul found hard to believe. He asked in the Lion House Pantry and in the café in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, though I could have told him it was a forlorn hope. Eventually, somebody took pity on us and we were directed to a café some distance away where we could have a rather late morning coffee and biscuits.
After that, we felt we needed a change so we decided to make an expedition to the Natural History Museum which is famous for dinosaur bones. I'll have to put those photos in my next post, this one is already too long.
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