Jesus In Latter-day Saint Temples - Sculptures

My wife was looking at Light The World posts and saw that someone was using that hash tag to claim that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints aren't christian because our temples don't have pictures of Jesus in them. The post was of course ridiculous (we have pictures of Jesus hanging everywhere in temples) and I think it is an internet troll trying to take the good that came from Light The World and twist it into evil. The claim was ridiculous as the temple ceremonies feature Jesus Christ and his teachings. As a response, I would like to highlight some art in temples that depicts Jesus Christ. I'll start with this post which shows Jesus in sculpture. Of course copies of The Christus, a statue of Jesus Christ are found in temple visitors centers and on the grounds of temples, but I'm going to highlight sculptures that are a part of the temples. 

Laie Hawaii Temple

The Laie Hawaii Temple has relief sculptures on the 4 sides of the temple and smaller reproductions of these sculptures in the waiting area so patrons can have time to study and ponder the sculptures. These depict the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants / church history. I'm not sure if Jesus is shown in the Old Testament sculpture, but he is in the other 3. In the New Testament panel he is shown teaching and healing. Jesus is shown appearing to the Nephites after his resurrection in the Book of Mormon panel. Finally, in the Doctrine and Covenants panel, Jesus is shown next to God the Father in the First Vision. In each case Jesus Christ is shown in the center of the panel as the focus.

Cardston Alberta Temple

The Cardston Alberta Temple in Canada has a low relief sculpture of Jesus talking with the woman at the well. Originally this was at the temple entry, just outside the temple, but with additions it is now inside the temple.

Oakland California Temple

The Oakland California Temple has 2 large granite sculptures on the north (main entry) and south sides of the temple. The sculpture on the north depicts Jesus teaching in the Holy Land. He is teaching a group of men, women, and children. The sculpture on the south shows the resurrected Jesus Christ appearing to the Nephites in the Americas.

Sao Paulo Brazil Temple

The next sculpture looks like a painting, but I classified it as a sculpture because it is a mosaic, and I already have plenty of paintings to write about. The Sao Paulo Brazil Temple baptistry has a mosaic sculpture of the baptism of Jesus Christ on the wall.

Newport Beach California Temple

 Newer temples have included sculptures of Jesus as well. The Newport Beach California Temple has a bronze relief sculpture above the doors. This sculpture shows Jesus appearing to the apostles after his resurrection.

Indianapolis Indiana Temple

The Indianapolis Indiana Temple has a relief sculpture of the baptism of Jesus Christ in the baptistry.

Each of these sculptures adds to the focus on Jesus Christ which is so evident in latter-day saint temples. Sculptures as a part of temples, while still used, appear to be less common today than a hundred years ago. I suspect this is mainly because of the growing popularity of stained glass in temples. I do hope that we will continue seeing sculptures in temples, particularly sculptures of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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.