Saturday, April 9, 2011

Latter-day Saint Temple Murals - Pt 6 - Baptistery Murals

To see my other posts on Latter-day Saint temple murals click on the following links:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Celestial room murals.
Some of those original posts have been updated.  For instance, baptistery murals are now included in the Laie Temple discussion and the Logan and Vernal Utah Temples' celestial room murals are also added to the celestial room murals post.

As a quick recap, I'll show some baptistery murals that were already dicussed:
Manti Temple Baptistery
Laie Hawaii Temple Baptistery
Laie Hawaii Temple Baptistery Murals
Laie Hawaii Temple Baptistery Murals
Cardston Alberta Temple Baptistery
Cardston Alberta Temple Baptistery Mural Detail

Mesa Arizona Temple Baptistery Mural

Mesa Arizona Temple Baptistery Mural
Idaho Falls Idaho Temple Baptistery
Los Angeles Temple Baptistery

Ok, now I'll move on to new material.

After the LA Temple was completed, murals were discontinued (until the last few years) in endowment rooms.  I've discussed some miscellaneous murals that were included in the meantime.  Baptisteries still occasionally included murals during this time, starting with the Hamilton New Zealand Temple (the first completed after LA).
Hamilton New Zealand Temple Baptistery
The Sao Paulo Brazil Temple has a tile mosaic mural in its baptistery:
Sao Paulo Brazil Temple Baptistery with Mosaic Mural
I think the next baptistery mural was in the Copenhagen Denmark Temple.  Copies of parts of this mural are used as murals in the baptisteries of the Curitiba Brazil Temple, Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple, remodeled Mexico City Temple, and probably others.  I like the grand scale of this mural and the wonderful scene of the baptism of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Copenhagen Denmark Temple Baptistery

Copenhagen Denmark Temple Baptistery Mural

Many temples include some commonly used picture of the baptism of Jesus Christ.  I'm not going to list all of those, but yes, many temples include baptistery pictures, a few of which could be considered murals.  I like it when they are harmoniously worked into the rooms, and not just any old picture.

The Helsinki Finland Temple uses smaller murals near the top of the baptistery walls.  This reminds me of how murals were done in the Laie Hawaii, Cardston Alberta Canada, and Idaho Falls Idaho Temples.  In fact, if you look closely at these murals you can tell that they are prints of the murals in the Cardston Albeta Temple, so if you want to know what they look like in detail, look at these.
Helsinki Finland Temple Baptistery
Helsinki Finland Temple Baptistery Mural Detail 1
Detail 2
Detail 3





Helsinki Finland Temple Baptistery Mural Detail 4
 Please comment and let us know what you think of these murals and the possibilities for other baptistery murals in future temples.  Also, if I've missed any baptistery murals, let me know.  I have intentionally skipped over stained glass murals in baptisteries, although they are technically murals and are wonderful pieces of art work.

I'd like to see a temple baptistery with murals on the four walls.  I suggest: the baptism of Jesus Christ, the baptism of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and the baptisms at the waters of Mormon in Mosiah in The Book of Mormon.  I'm not sure what to put on the forth wall.  It could depict the baptism of Adam so the Old Testament could be represented.  It could also depict other baptisms from The Holy Bible, The Book of Mormon, or the early days of the restoration.  Depictions of the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood would also be fitting.

Another question is what sorts of murals would you place in a confirmation room?  Usually these just contain typical church paintings that are not necessarily linked to the ordinance of confirmation.

Please comment.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd love to see a higher resolution picture of the Helsinki Temple Baptistry. It looks beautiful. Do you know where to find one?

Anonymous said...

I just went to the baptistry at the LA Temple. I go there once a month with my ward. It's beautiful. It has a very 70's appeal to it, but the mural of Christ's baptism is breathtaking. The font is huge and the oxen are very detail in comparison to other baptistries. I went to St. George just last week, the baptistry there is beautiful too. I like that the oxen are all white and the font has a beautiful gold trim.

Clark Herlin said...

Seriously, dude, where do you find these pictures? Your blog has the most unique pictures of any LDS Temples I have ever seen!

Jon said...

Techincally, the baptism of Adam is in the Pearl of Great Price. But it's true that Adam is an OT figure.

Actually a mural that I'd love to see in the baptistry is Christ rescuing the captive spirits or teaching the spirits in prison. Admittedly that would appropriate anywhere in the temple, but since the baptistry is the only place in the temple where no one is doing their own ordinances, it seems it fits best there.

Jon said...

I spelled "technically" wrong. I'm a bad pedant.

Scott said...

I got the high resolution picture from the church's website. They post them in the newsroom while a temple open house is going on. You might be able to find one somewhere online, or you can get me your e-mail address and I'll e-mail it to you.

Clark, I started collecting temple pictures about 13 or 14 years ago. There was originally a site with a lot of old pictures. A copied version of the site can be found here http://www.oocities.org/athens/parthenon/4909/
Lds.org also used to have many interior photos, but now only has them briefly before a temple is dedicated with a few exceptions. Many photos have taken a lot of searching for me to get. Others are scanned from church magazines. I still need to go to the church history library and scan images of the Portland Oregon Temple font from a New Era article. If you want some pictures right now, the church currently has the Atlanta Temple remodel pictures online. They look really good.

Jon, you know that the Book of Moses is the JS Translation of the Book of Genesis, so it is both part of the Old Testament and Pearl of Great Price.

Sister F said...

THANK YOU for this incredible blog. I just discovered it today and have spent the entire day reading every entry (oops!) I also collect temple interior photos but don't have most of these rare gems that you do!
As for confirmation room murals, I'd actually prefer for the confirmation room to be plain and simple, but nice (not like the Jordan River closet rooms, which make confirmation seem like an unimportant afterthought).

p.s. I'd love to see an entry on brides rooms! I've only seen two, Draper and St. George, for my own endowment and wedding. Also, why are there no grooms rooms?

Anonymous said...

While I was serving my mission in Chicago a mural was added to the wall behind the font. Lights were even put in to frame Christ's baptism.

Brother M said...

I would really like to see a very clear picture of the mural of Christ's baptism from the LA temple baptistry. Reason being, I heard that when David O McKay was prophet and wen't to that temple and saw that mural, he said, " this painting of christ looks more like christ than any other paintings he has seen."

Kimber said...

Do you know the name of the artist for the Helsinki murals? Thanks!!

millyissa said...

I've been searching for the story behind painting Christ in the LA Temple baptistry mural. I heard an amazing story about it that makes me want to stare at it for hours, but it was hear-say. Do you have any clue where to find stories like that? I don't even have the artist's name.

Anonymous said...

The artist was Joseph Gibby. My grandfather's cousin.