I love the recent renovation of the Washington DC Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The public open house is currently being held, so if you are in the DC area, please go check it out. I have written two posts with my reactions to this temple renovation. In this one I want to highlight some grand spaces (for lack of a better description).
I like this remodel. When I visited this temple about ten years ago I liked it, but some colors and style choices were dated. The refurbished temple doesn't throw away the midcentury modern architecture, but it does enhance it.
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| Washington DC Temple Bridge Lobby Connecting Annex to Temple |
As you cross over from the annex where the recommend desk to the main temple, you cross a bridge that doubles as a lobby. I like this bright space. This leads to the rotunda which used to have a 30 ft long mural of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. For some reason it was removed in this remodel. If you know where it went, please let me know. The rotunda is still nice, but I miss the original mural. My previous post discussed this mural and some theories about where it may have gone.
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| Washington DC Temple Chapel |
The Chapel is a nice room. Although it may be used for meetings, these chapels are mainly used when waiting to go to another part of the temple. The worshipers can read scriptures and listen to quiet hymns being played. This room has curves and pointed arches and the walls have windows of thinly cut stone that is translucent. It makes a great place to quietly meditate while waiting to go do a temple session.
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| Washington DC Temple Original Ordinance Room |
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| Washington DC Temple Renovated Ordinance Room |
Once you leave the chapel, the Ordinance Rooms (Endowment Room) are usually your next destination. These rooms have been nicely updated while keeping the simplicity of the original, with slightly nicer finishes and more timeless colors. The proscenium and curtain at the front of the room are nicer, the ceiling has been improved from acoustic tile to hard lid with vaulting, and pendant lights have been added.
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| Washington DC Temple Original Celestial Room |
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| Washington DC Temple Renovated Celestial Room |
The Celestial Room which represents the heavenly kingdom of God, has been nicely enhanced. The colors have been slightly tweaked, dated curtains removed, and chandeliers have been updated with finer chandeliers (the same style as the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple has). This is an improvement in my estimation. I also learned that there is one large central chandelier and 12 smaller chandeliers around the perimeter. I'm guessing these weren't intended to represent anything, but it makes me think of Jesus Christ as the great light and the 12 apostles as additional lights as described in 1 Nephi 1.
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| Washington DC Temple Original Sealing Room |
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| Washington DC Temple Renovated Sealing Room |
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| Washington DC Temple Original Assembly Room |
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| Washington DC Temple Renovated Assembly Room |
According to an experience I heard third-hand relative to the LA Temple and personages undetected by security cameras, let's just say that Assembly Rooms might be used more often than most may be aware.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of the overwhelming amount of tans/beiges in the celestial room, but it's definitely an improvement over its former 1970s color scheme.
ReplyDeleteWhen my parents got married there in the early 90s, one of the sealing rooms was lavender purple. I'm underwhelmed that it is devoid of color now...
Great to see some postings on this temple. I believe most of the color choices were updated at some point before the renovation, based on when I've attended. Interestingly, the chapel on the main floor of the temple is mostly unused - patrons go directly to the endowment rooms to await the start of each session. Maybe that wasn't always the case though.
ReplyDeleteWhich reminds me of another change. The endowment floor used to have a floorplan on the wall by each stairwell with lightbulbs in the location of each endowment rooms. One would be lit to indicate which room would hold the next session. Those have been replaced by artwork.
In reference to comments about the Assembly Rooms not being used very often...
ReplyDelete2002-2010 I lived in the Frederick Maryland Stake.
The week before each Stake Conference, we were encouraged to attend the Temple as often as possible.
The week would end with a Friday night 7pm meeting in the Priesthood Room (what you refer to as the "Assembly Room"). The meeting would often be referred to as "A 7th Floor Meeting".
Our Stake President, the Temple Matron, and the Temple President would address us.
These were wonderful meetings.
The meeting would adjourn, and we had the option of attending an Endowment Session reserved for our Stake.
These were nice memories.
The audience chairs are individual, with padded seats and backs, stackable, non-folding style. They are set up to face the Melchizedek Priesthood Pulpits on the West (Chairs facing West).
I had never seen the chairs stacked and put away, but always in place, ready for use.
The Meeting would be conducted from, and speakers would address us from, the Lowest Pulpits on the rostrum.
As for the size of the room-- Our Endowed Membership that would attend, would rarely fill 1/2 of it.
This sounds beautiful and amazing. What a privilege to experience meeting in such a room!
DeleteI think that assembly rooms will be used much more often during the millennium.
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