Showing posts with label Celestial Room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Celestial Room. Show all posts

Sunday, November 1, 2020

Salt Lake Temple Celestial Room Stained Glass Windows

I haven't written on this blog for years, mainly because I exhausted my ideas for new posts and also because I got married and had children and that has kept me quite busy and satisfied. But I still retain my love for temples and great temple architecture. I truly miss attending the temple due to the coronavirus limiting who can attend and hope I can go again soon. 

During the last few years I've been thrilled to see remodels of temples with historical preservation highlighted. President Nelson's announcement that the 4 pioneer temples will be renovated/restored to preserve their unique pioneer craftsmanship and character made me very happy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has shown some renderings of the Salt Lake Temple renovation and I am pleased to see the original colors, woodwork, etc returning to this temple. So far we haven't seen renderings of the baptistery, terrestrial room, celestial room, sealing rooms, holy of holies, assembly room, administration rooms, etc and that has got me wondering how the celestial room might be renovated. So I looked through old black and white photos of the celestial room and compared those to more recent color photos of the celestial room. Here are two of those photos:



I was looking at these photos noticing a bunch of differences. The base of columns was originally a painted faux marble (the Saints podcast pointed this out), the lower portion of the columns had an interesting four pointed star sort of pattern, sconces were attached to the columns, there was a patterned wallpaper on the vaulted portion of the ceiling, the walls weren't white or cream, only the doors and their moldings appear white. Then I noticed the stained glass windows. As far as I can tell, none of the stained glass windows in the celestial room are original.

The most obvious one is the stained glass window above the veil. It appears to have been added after the black and white photo was taken (1911 or 1912). Then I looked closer and noticed that the 8 semi-elliptical stained glass windows above the doors in the vaulted portions of the ceiling also appear to be missing in the black and white photo. The semi-elliptical space where the windows were added appears to just be wall originally. I suppose there may have been some on the other side of the room, but I haven't found photos to support that. I tried to find some information on when these were added, but I didn't find anything. I'm guessing these windows were added in the 1960s when the celestial room was repainted and the temple was renovated. These windows are a little peculiar because they tilt out. If you look carefully in other photos or when you are in the celestial room you can see that at least the interior windows have a gap at the top. I'm guessing these might actually have been added to conceal air conditioning vents, which i appreciate. These windows must have been carefully chosen because they seamlessly blend in with the original temple architecture so well that most people would have to carefully study old photos to realize they aren't from the 1890s.

I love having the pioneer temples preserved and restored. I hope respectful additions such as these stained glass windows in the celestial room are also kept in the renovated temple. I'd be surprised if they removed these for historical purposes as they appear to match other original art glass windows and enhance the incredible architecture of the Salt Lake Temple celestial room. If you look at the rendering of the grand staircase and hallway that the church has released and compare it to historical photos, it appears that they are adding a stained glass window on the landing of the grand staircase. That window is a similar style to these and makes me think they are keeping tasteful additions to the building. I like that.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Temple Celestial Room Domes

The Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are spectacular. I really like the use of domes in temple celestial rooms.  Many recent temples have included them, in addition to some older temples.

Both the St. Louis Missouri and Preston England Temples have domes in their celestial rooms.  The temples share the same floor plan, so this isn't too surprising.  Other temples with this style likely have domes.  I know that Boston has a small dome at the end of the room.  If I recall correctly it has clouds painted in a fake oculus.
St. Louis Missouri Temple Celestial Room
Preston England Temple Celestial Room

The first style of small temple had a few mentionable domes.  The Brisbane Australia Temple has a dome with cloud and sky scene and the Snowflake Arizona Temple has an elliptical dome with a sunburst pattern.  These temples are often criticized for being cookie-cutter.  The domes help add some garnish to the very nice cookies.

Brisbane Australia Temple Celestial Room Dome
Snowflake Arizona Temple Celestial Room Dome
The next style of small temple shared a common floor plan that almost always included a celestial room dome.  These temples were given many architectural distinctions to make them much less cookie-cutter.  The temple domes are differentiated with unique, detailed patterns.  All of these temples have a lot of detail.  I wasn't able to find pictures of them all, but here are the ones I could get:
Apia Samoa Temple Celestial Room Dome
Newport Beach California Temple Celestial Room Dome
Redlands California Temple Celestial Room Dome
Sacramento California Temple Celestial Room Dome
San Antonio Texas Temple Celestial Room Dome
The Draper Utah Temple was also given a dome.  I'm pretty sure this is a faux dome, painted to look like a dome.  It is really high up in the room so it is hard to tell, but I think the ceiling is actually flat or only very slightly curved.  The shading makes it look curved and makes it appear to be a dome.  I'm fine with that.  I also love the ring of Sego Lilies (Utah's state flower, which also fed starving pioneers) around the perimeter.
Draper Utah Temple Celestial Room Dome
Several older temples also have domes.  The Sao Paulo Brazil Temple has a dome with nice gold.  I don't know if this dome is original, or if it was added during a recent remodel.  I think it may be glass, but am unsure.
Sao Paulo Brazil Temple Celestial Room Dome
Other temples have had domes added.  For instance, the Boise Idaho Temple had a stained glass dome installed in its celestial room.  Pictures can be seen here.  From what I've seen. a lot of the six spire sloped roof 1980s temples had a central celestial room with an octagonal dome.  I've only seen Dallas' in person.  I liked it.

The Jordan River Utah Temple has an oval dome.  It is really simple with just some texture added like you sometimes see on vaulted ceilings in homes.  The Provo Utah and Ogden Utah Temple both have domes in their celestial rooms.  At least one of them is a dome with numerous ribs and a nice pattern.

The Orlando Florida Temple has a glass dome in its celestial room that can be seen here.

The Rexburg Idaho Temple has an elliptical dome with a wheat pattern painted on it.

I'm sure other temples have domes.  Please comment and let us know about other interesting Latter-day Saint Temple celestial room domes, or what you think about these.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Celestial Room Staircases

Here is another installment on staircases in temples built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This time I'll be discussing celestial room staircases.


In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees;
And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage];
Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-2
Putting a staircase in the celestial room in a temple is such a great way to visually remind us of this principle.  I've only seen a few such staircases.  The most interesting ones are grand staircases leading to upper levels in a celestial room.  I only know of two.  Here are pictures of them:
San Diego California Temple Celestial Room
Portland Oregon Temple Celestial Room Staircase
I've never been in the San Diego Temple, but I love all the pictures I've seen of it.  I like the balcony level and the interesting curves, particularly in the railing.  I have been inside the Portland Oregon Temple once and it has a very classy, sleek, modern, luxurious look and feel.  I like how the staircase uses glass (with an etched pattern).  This keeps the room bright and light.  The brilliant white stone also is stunning on the staircase.  You enter the celestial room by walking under the middle of the staircase.  You can enter the staircase on either side and they meet in the middle. The staircase leads to a mezzanine level with additional seating.  This level has a door leading to sealing rooms and the "chapel" which is essentially an assembly hall.

Other temples have less grand, but still really nice celestial room staircases.  Below are staircases in the St. George Utah Temple and Salt Lake Temple.  Each leads to a sealing room.  The Salt Lake Temple staircase has a statue of Cupid as a symbol of love on the bottom post.
St George Utah Temple (left) and Salt Lake Temple (right) Celestial Room Stairs
There are other celestial room staircases that are essentially just exits, or sometimes small entrances to the rooms.  These can be seen in the original Logan Temple, the Manti Temple, London England Temple, Bern Switzerland Temple, and probably a few others.
Manti Utah Temple Celestial Room
 Those are the celestial room staircases that I am aware of.  Please comment and tell us about others I don't know about.  I really love celestial room staircases.  I wish there were more like San Diego and Portland which have the best ones, or even just ones like the St. George and Salt Lake temples have.  Hopefully as more and more temples are built, staircases will be included in celestial rooms once again.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Portland Oregon Temple

For any of you who didn't notice, I've updated some of my earlier posts with new images.


Portland Oregon Temple
The Portland Oregon Temple is one of my absolute favorite temples.   This temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was completed in 1989. I've been to the grounds twice and inside once (the other time was a Sunday so it was closed).   The Portland Temple is modern, detailed, ornate, sleek, bright, rich, original, symbolic, and spiritual.

For those of you who have not been there, it is just off of a freeway (and visible from the freeway) yet the grounds feel secluded due to the dense forest.  Its use of the six spire sloped roof style of temples.  This brings with it priesthood symbolism with the three towers on the west representing the Aaronic Priesthood and its presidency of a bishop and two counselors.  The eastern three towers represent the Melchizedek Priesthood and its presidency, either a stake presidency composed of three presidents or the First Presidency of the church composed of the prophet and his two counselors, all presidents.  The temple is covered in the same symbols that are found on the Salt Lake Temple - representations of the earth, moon, sun, and stars in stone, on the spires, and on the doors.

The Portland Temple spires were intentionally sculpted so they would compliment the forest that fills the grounds.  The spires are essentially made of a series of pointed arches that taper in as they go up.  On the east spires there are stars all over the spires while on the west side no stars are present.  The spires are made of white fiberglass and work well against the brilliant white marble stone that coats the main body of the temple.

The sloped roof of the temple is a nice green slate which helps the structure match the evergreen forest that covers the grounds.

The doors of the temple are done in a nice dark wood.  Symbolic stars are carved into the doors.  The same white stone and dark wood that are found on the temple exterior also run throughout the temple.  The contrast between the two, and the richness of both, makes this temple strikingly beautiful.

Upon entering the temple, you notice an atrium filled with natural light and lush vegetation.  This atrium is open to the public.  To see other atriums, click here.

Inside or outside the temple you might notice the walls glowing.  This is because there are actually windows made of stone cut so thin that it is translucent.  If you look at this picture closely you'll notice that you can see the sun stones illuminated from within the temple.  When I was there, I noticed the earth stones glowing when I was in the downstairs chapel.

Portland Oregon Temple Baptismal Font
Unfortunately, I have not seen the baptistery.  I do have this picture of it and I have been to the Las Vegas Nevada Temple's baptistery which is really similar.  In the photo you can see the stone windows.  I also love the glass used on the railings.  It has a design etched in it and similar glass is used throughout the temple.  I also notice that the floor has a nice design which appears to either be the Star of David or the Seal of Melchizedek.

One unique feature of this temple are the triangular staircases.  These are either in or next to the spires.  These staircases are different from normal staircases because you go up a flight of stairs, step onto a landing, turn 300 degrees, go up a flight, step onto a landing, turn 300 degrees, and so on.  In this way the staircase is triangular (or perhaps hexagonal if you want to include the landing).  I really liked this as it made the temple feel like a special building and not just any architecture.  It also showed creativity.  In addition, the number 3 is filled with symbolism - particularly about God and the Godhead.


Portland Oregon Temple Endowment Room
The endowment rooms are special.  They have the dark wood mentioned earlier.  The wood has a bright gold pattern on it that really stands out.  The grains in the woodwork are also laid out so they form a diamond pattern, something that must have been carefully planned out and shows skill.  The altar is made of the rich dark wood with gold accents.  The shapes on the altar echo the small domes found on the temple exterior and help to tie the architecture together.  The room also feels different from the world due to its orientation.  The room is approximately square, but the altar, screen, and focus is set on a corner of the room.  The seating is also oriented with the rows of seats on either side of the aisle at 90 degrees to each other.  Finally, the altar and veil are on a raised platform that is sectioned off with a small wood barrier that makes it feel extra special.  By the way, this picture doesn't do the room any justice.

Portland Oregon Temple Celestial Room
Going from the endowment room you enter a cross shaped room between the four endowment rooms.  Following one of the legs of the cross leads you into one of the most spectacular celestial rooms ever envisioned.  As you enter the room you are actually walking beneath a staircase that leads to a mezzanine level of the room.  The room is richly decorated and includes gold colored tapestries covering the stone windows along two walls.  This room is also set at an angle and the two walls covered in tapestries are the east facade on the temple exterior.  The gold tapestries contrast nicely with the brilliant white stone.  The tapestries also get thinner as they go up until at the top all you can see is the brilliant white stone windows and any light glowing through them.  This wonderfully represents the eternal progression found in the celestial kingdom.  A small sealing room can be accessed directly off the celestial room and is actually in the east center tower of the temple.  The celestial room also has three bright brass chandeliers that shine with a gold color.  They are virtually identical to the chandelier in the remodeled Logan Temple celestial room, although they are brighter and golder and they work very well in this room.  Modern sconces are found on the columns along the wall with the tapestries and add a lot of class to the room.

Portland Oregon Temple Celestial Room Staircase
If you decide to venture up the staircase, you will get to see some more features of the celestial room.  The stair railing includes glass panels with an etched pattern in them.  This keeps the room light and airy.  The mezzanine level above provides nice views of the chandeliers.  Seating is also present on this upper level.  The multilevel nature of this celestial room reminds us that in the celestial kingdom there are multiple degrees of glory.  A door leads from the mezzanine level to a number of sealing rooms , perhaps to remind us that to attain the highest degree of glory in the celestial kingdom we must be married eternally through the sealing ordinance.

The temple's special chapel, which is essentially a temple assembly hall, is also found off the celestial room mezzanine.  This keeps with the common pattern of having priesthood assembly halls on the top level of temples.  The ceiling of the room follows the slope of the roof.  It must be nice to attend a special temple meeting in this upper room of the temple, especially in the late afternoon on a clear day when the sun would make the stone windows glow.  In that event you would see the sun stones at the top of each window.

The Portland Oregon Temple is one of the six spire sloped roof temples, but it is different than most with a unique floor plan.  It is also a lot larger than most other six spire sloped roof temples.  The spires are far, far more detailed and the symbolism is more advanced than in most other six spire sloped roof temples.  The floor plan of the Portland Oregon Temple was altered slightly and used for Las Vegas Nevada Temple, another one of my favorites and the only example of the six spire sloped roof temple style that can compare to the Portland Temple.  If you have been in a six spire sloped roof temple, but not Portland or Las Vegas, don't think you know what those two are like.  These temples are different.  Although I like the other six spire sloped roof temples, the Portland Oregon Temple is the gem of the style.  If you get the chance I highly recommend that you visit this temple.  Even if you aren't a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it would still be worthwhile just to see the atrium, the beautiful grounds, and the exterior architecture.

I'm not sure why they only built two temples with this floor plan as it truly is a spectacular style, but I am so glad that they made this temple, and that they used its floor plan for the Las Vegas Nevada Temple.

If you know more about this temple, please comment.  You can also comment if you have questions or just want to point out something that you liked.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Salt Lake Temple Symbolic Progression

One of the best parts of the older temples is the use of symbolic progression as one moves through the temple.  When you move from endowment room to endowment room the architecture of each room can be designed to compliment the endowment ceremony in meaningful ways.  I want to explain how some of this is achieved in the Salt Lake Temple.  Each room in the Salt Lake Temple is more than the previous room.  It symbolizes that as we progress in the gospel we become more.  We become better people, we gain more skills, we become more righteous and holy.  We become closer to God and we become more like Him.  I'm just going to show pictures of each endowment room and explain how it achieves this.

The Creation Room:
Salt Lake Temple Creation Room


Originally the creation room didn't even have murals (they were added many years later).  The lighting is very simple (newer lighting has been installed in the last few years, but it still has the simplest lighting).  There are no staircases and no natural light.  Also notice that there isn't even an altar in the room.  Although a nice, moving room, the creation room is very simple.  It is also the lowest in elevation (in the basement) and has the lowest ceilings of the endowment rooms.  This is the first endowment room in the temple.  It is our starting point - the creation of the earth and mankind.  The murals in the creation room also show progression from a disorganized world, to land and seas being formed, to plants being formed.  It is somewhat interesting that no animals are shown in the murals in the creation room despite the fact that animals were created during the creation.  This is used as a way to show progression in the garden room. 

The Garden Room:
Salt Lake Temple Garden Room


The next endowment room in the Salt Lake Temple is the Garden Room.  This room represents The Garden of Eden.  To get to the room, patrons go up a small rise from the creation room (a few feet).  The room is now larger and taller.  There are more lights are each is more ornate (in the picture they are slightly more involved, newly installed lights are really nice) and there is a large light at the top where the ceiling is recessed (recently upgraded with clear art glass incorporating sego lilies).  An altar is present, and although nice, is simpler than other altars in the temple.  3 staircases are now present although they are short and fairly simple.  Originally this would have had a small greenhouse behind the curtains that can be seen in the photo.  This would have brought natural light into the room.  Also notice that the door has glass on the top half and filling the arch above.  The murals now show the Garden of Eden in idyllic splendor with nice plants and animals all getting along.  Adding animals shows progression from the creation room.

 The Grand Staircase:

Grand Staircase, Salt Lake Temple
Upon leaving the garden room, patrons exit (if I recall correctly going down 1 step symbolizing the fall) onto a landing and then go up the grand staircase.  This is a fitting symbol of progression.  A stained glass window of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden is also seen. 



Grand Staircase, Salt Lake Temple
This staircase brings patrons to the first floor of the temple where they will enter the world room.  As they go up the staircase, the doors to the celestial room are visible before patrons turn to enter the world room.  This gives a glimpse of things to come. As a side note, Jesus Christ appeared to President Lorenzo Snow at the top of this staircase and told him he was to be the next prophet and to reorganize the first presidency.



 
 The Telestial or World Room:
Salt Lake Temple World Room

This room represents the fallen world that we all live in, yet at the same time it has to symbolize a progression.  The fallen state of the world is shown through fighting animals, trees competing for space or dying, a river eroding a hillside, etc.  The progression is shown in many ways.  Tall windows let natural light flood into the room.  In addition, the chandeliers are now clusters of ball lights instead of single lights.  The altar is more ornate.  The doors are taller.  The staircase is now more detailed and quite a bit taller.  The entire room is more spacious.  Also notice that the doors now have significantly more glass than in the garden room.  The color scheme is also slightly lighter than the garden room.  The murals also show progression because although representing a fallen world, they are more interesting than those in the garden room with more going on.  Notice that to leave this room one goes up a slight rise.

The Terrestrial Room:
Salt Lake Temple Terrestrial Room (back)
Salt Lake Temple Terrestrial Room (front)

Patrons go straight from the world room to the terrestrial room.  This room represents the Terrestrial Kingdom of God (2nd highest of 3 heavens) or the better world we can experience while still alive if we follow God's commandments.  The room shows obvious progression with ornate chandeliers, moldings, columns, details window arches, a Tiffany art glass window, a nice altar, this time surrounded with a large platform.  A staircase is also present with intricate carvings on it.  The color scheme of the room is the brightest yet with pastel blue and pink and cream.  A large painting is hung in this room (the temple rotates which painting hangs here so I can't say which one), usually of Jesus Christ as a fitting symbol of the only way to attain this state and more even further in life and towards life with God.  Interestingly, the chandeliers were originally clusters of ball lights like those seen in the world room.  This made it so the lights followed one theme and got nicer.  Also, the windows used to let natural light in, but have since been blocked by the sealing room annex (a hallway is now on the other side of the windows).  The terrestrial room is taller, larger, and higher than previous rooms.  Like the other rooms, the architecture here shows us that as we progress in the gospel and follow God's plan we increase in every way.  You might also notice that above the stained glass window there is a detailed carving with flowers and I think fruit, a small hint of what is to come in the celestial room.

The Celestial Room:
Salt Lake Temple Celestial Room


The endowment ceremony always ends in the celestial room, no matter the temple.  In the Salt Lake Temple, the celestial room's architecture is used in an effective way to reinforce the teachings of the endowment.  The room is the largest, highest, tallest, and most ornate of the endowment rooms.  The lighting now consists of eight chandeliers with clusters of more ornate pointed lights (instead of spheres).  Windows and Tiffany art glass windows along the top are also used to bring in light.  Mirrors and glass are used a lot.  Columns, arches, etc. are all far more ornate than in the terrestrial room.  Also, along the ceiling there is a lot of carved fruit and flowers.  Vines, trophies, flowers, etc. are painted on the walls.  Birds are carved into the walls.  The color scheme is bright and glorious with gold details.  When I first went to the Salt Lake Temple I didn't know how the terrestrial room's architecture could be outdone (and I had seen pictures of the celestial room).  Then I stepped into the celestial room and saw how much nicer a room could get.  It is breathtakingly beautiful with so many intricate details.  It is a wonderful representation of the highest heaven where we can dwell with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.  No picture does this room justice.

Although not endowment rooms, the sealing rooms and Holy of Holies in the Salt Lake Temple continue the theme of progression.  Notice that from the celestial room you can see (and walk into if you want) the sealing rooms.  To enter each you go up either 2 steps or up a short staircase.  The staircase has a cupid statue as a symbol of love.  Each sealing room is even more ornate than the celestial room, and two of them contain art glass windows.  The sealing rooms have the most ornate altars and have high ceilings.  This shows that as we are married for eternity in temples, and sealed together as eternal families, we grow, progress, fulfill God's plan, and become qualified to enter the highest part of the highest heaven.  In the photo, the second doorway from the right (next to the open sealing room) leads into the Holy of Holies.  This room is the most ornate of all with a short staircase leading from the doorway to another doorway into the room.  The room has a tall dome with art glass windows along the top and a stained glass window of the First Vision.  You can see a picture of it in my post on temple stained glass windows here

I love how the architecture of the Salt Lake Temple has been used to give a progression with patrons moving higher from room to more ornate/tall/spacious/bright/light/detailed/etc. room.  I love how the endowment feels when presented in this way.  Unfortunately, most temples have patrons in a single endowment room for the entire ceremony and then finally entering the celestial room.  This gives these temple their own unique ways to symbolize the progression (generally through the lights getting turned on brighter partway through the ceremony), but I think the temples with 4 endowment rooms before the celestial room are able to show this best.  In my opinion, the Salt Lake Temple does this best with the most areas of progression used.

Please comment and let me know what you think.  If there are details you noticed that I didn't mention, or other insights you had, please comment and let us all know.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Celestial Room Murals

Today's brief post is about murals in celestial rooms of Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Although many temples have murals, there are really only two with murals in their celestial rooms.  Here are the details:


Idaho Falls Idaho Temple.  I've only been in this temple once, but I really liked the celestial room mural.  As you can see in the photos the mural shows green fields and mountains with people dressed in white socializing.  It is a very nice image of celestial life.  People are reading and one man is giving flowers to a woman.  This reminds us of the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 130:2 which reads: And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.  The mural also shows part of the Book of Revelation.  One wall has John the Revelator writing as an angel shows him the city of New Jerusalem descending out of heaven as written in Revelation 21:2.




Los Angeles California Temple. This temple has a celestial room mural shown in the picture (Sorry about the quality, it is the only picture I have of this temple's celestial room).  It looks to me like an nice nature scene.





These temple celestial room murals are interesting and unique. It is interesting to note that the Idaho Falls and Los Angeles Temples were planned at the same time and completed about 10 years apart due to World War II.  This probably explains the fact that both have celestial room murals.  I'm guessing that the idea didn't catch on with future temples because deciding what to use as a mural in a celestial room is a little difficult, and because the church started building more temples rapidly after these temples.  Also, after the L.A. Temple was completed, temples switched to using film for the endowment.  This meant that murals weren't included in future temples (until about the last 10 years).  I would like to see celestial room murals in some new temples.  I think they were an interesting experiment that unfortunately died when the endowment switched to film.  I still think they can work and would make wonderful Celestial Rooms and add a lot of variety to temples.  For now just I'll just have to enjoy these two special temples.  I hope to some day see the Los Angeles California Temple celestial room mural.  I have actually seen other paintings in temple celestial rooms.  For instance, the four corner columns in the Logan Utah Temple celestial room have a hilly landscape painted on them, although it is on such a small portion of the room that I don't really consider it a mural.  The Vernal Utah Temple (and I'm sure several other temples) has a painting of Christ on a wall in the celestial room, which is nice.  I should also note that a few temples have stained glass scenes in their celestial rooms.  The most notable examples are the San Antonio Texas, Palmyra New York, and Winter Quarters Nebraska Temples which have stained glass windows depicting the Tree of Life.

Well, Those are my thoughts on celestial room murals in Latter-day Saint temples.  If you know more, have questions, or just want to discuss something, please comment.  You could write about what you'd put in a celestial room mural.

This is an addition to the original post:
Original Logan Temple Celestial Room With Murals
The Logan Temple also originally had celestial room murals (well, they were added in 1929).  They weren't wrap around murals, but rather huge paintings.  They were of Joseph Smith Jr. heading by the Hill Cumorah and Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery receiving the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist.  For more information see The Logan Temple The First 100 Years by Nolan P. Olsen.

I have also noticed that the Vernal Utah Temple technically has a mural of the second coming of Jesus Christ in its celestial room.  See part 5 of my temple murals post for that image.  I say that it technically has a mural, because the picture is attached to the wall and the room is planned around the piece, although it isn't a mural covering all the walls like those in Idaho Falls or Los Angeles.

The Hamilton New Zealand Temple Celestial Room also has murals seen below.
Hamilton New Zealand Celestial Room With Murals