April 2021 General Conference Temple Announcement Predictions

 I love announcements about new temples that come at most General Conferences in recent years. I like to read several blogs that predict where new temples may go, such as http://ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com/ and I love reading readers' comments predicting temple locations. I thought I'd share my list of temple announcement predictions. For the purposes of this list I have chosen 2 temples per continent. One temple pick is a likely temple and 1 temple that is less likely but could be chosen due to remoteness or other criteria - basically temples like the surprise temples we have seen announced in the recent years. Continents also include islands nearby, so Australia and New Zealand and the Pacific Islands are considered together. My list is also skewed to what I would like to see and what I know, so I recognize it is a very biased list. Oh, and I added a separate Utah category. Here are my predictions.

Africa: Madagascar, less likely Canary Islands. Both are islands and would greatly reduce travel times. Madagascar is also highly possible with 2 stakes and multiple districts on the island alone.

Asia: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, less likely Jakarta, Indonesia. Mongolia has several stakes and is remote and will get a temple closer to much of China and Russia. Indonesia is remote, but has several stakes and districts. 

Australia and Oceana: Christchurch, New Zealand, less likely Tasmania, Australia. Christchurch is on a different island than the other two New Zealand temples and has 2 stakes and a district. Of course Wellington has more stakes and might be more likely, but it is on the island with temples so I picked this one. Tasmania is a separate island from Australia, so having a temple there would help ease travel burdens on the saints.

Europe: Scotland, less likely Tirana, Albania. Scotland has multiple stakes and several hour travel times to the Preston England Temple. Plus, with the Scottish not appreciating Brexit, there is a chance Scotland will leave the UK in coming years so there could be an international border. Albania is just up the coast from Greece, so it is almost a New Testament country, which is cool. It has a stake and district and would get the temple much closer to many in far eastern Europe and the Middle East.

South America: Iquitos, Peru, less likely Punta Arenas, Chile. South America was hard to decide on as so many temples are already being built or already built and I am not an expert. Iquitos gets further into the continent while being in a location with many members. Punta Arenas is at the southern tip of South America and would greatly ease travel burdens.

North America: Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, less likely La Paz, Mexico. Colorado is overdue for a third temple. La Paz is on the southern tip of Baja California so it has really long travel distances, even if you were to get on a ferry.

Utah: Price. I don't have a less likely pick, but I think Heber City is also a strong possibility soon. I live in Utah, so I realize that the temples are usually crowded and new temples could easily be announced in Utah. I personally think they will wait a while before announcing new ones, but they keep announcing them anyways, so maybe these will get announced too. Price has a university extension (what used to be the College of Eastern Utah) and I think college towns should get temples so young adults can establish patterns of temple attendance, plus it has the membership to justify a temple and is remote enough and has dangerous travel in the winter. Heber City also has a lot of members and dangerous travel in the winter.

Those are my picks for new temple announcements. Hopefully I'm right on all of them. Please feel free to comment on temple predictions you have.

Changes Announced to the Salt Lake Temple and Manti Temple

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced several changes to the Salt Lake Temple and Manti Utah Temple this last week. Here are my thoughts. 

Ending live acted endowment:

I will miss this. I only rarely went to these temples, but it was always neat when I did to have live actors and I feel it helps you realize certain aspects of the endowment ceremony that can be missed in a film presentation. At the same time, this makes sense in order to accommodate many languages. I wish they could have kept at least a session a day or even a week with live actors, but it is what it is.

The Salt Lake Temple Changes:

1. The loss of the murals in the Salt Lake Temple Creation Room, Garden Room, and World Room: This is a huge loss. The murals are all over 100 years old. The press release said they wanted to keep these, but were unable to save them. There are many reasons for this, but probably the main reason is that the work to strengthen the temple to withstand earthquakes was damaging the murals enough that it was easier to simply remove the. I wish that the church would commission artists to repaint these rooms to either match the style or in a new style as was done in Nauvoo and Manti in the past. I would be overjoyed if the church leaders changed their mind and announced this, but I realize that is very unlikely. The cost of repainting these murals, although significant, would be a very small portion of the cost of this project and I think worth it. So, I am disappointed, but I will have to live with it. I am happy that they won't be putting in a 1980s interior like they did with Logan, so at least there is that.

2. Moving the baptistry from the historic temple and into the annex and adding a second font:

I am fine with this. When you are underground it is difficult to tell where you are, so moving the font makes a lot of sense. Adding a second font also makes sense and really should have been done a long while ago as the baptistry is a major bottleneck in temples. Architecturally I love the baptistry rendering. I only have 2 small issues. First, I wish the font was still raised above the floor like the historic font. In fact I wish the new baptistry was a faithful reproduction of the original font room, or at least one of the two baptistries was. But the rendering we have looks great and is probably more accessible. The second issue I have is that the rendering shows a railing system with glass walls. This looks great, but it reminds me that this is not how the pioneers built it. I would rather have a 1890s style picket railing, even if it obscured the font a little. But both of these are minor architectural items. Otherwise, I love what they are doing. 

3. Adding 2 endowment rooms: 

It makes a lot of sense to use the space where the font is for new endowment rooms and I like the renderings. I just wish that this didn't trigger the mural removal in other rooms. I wish they had added 2 rooms for single room presentation of the endowment, and used the other rooms for a progressive endowment. I think both could have run side by side. But the church leaders studied this and came to a different conclusion, so we will have to live with it. The new rooms look great. 

4. Removing the cafeteria: I have no problem with this. Most temples now just have a small break room with a microwave and refrigerator for workers to use on their breaks. 

5. Updated Terrestrial Room (now Veil Room):

I like the rendering a lot. The new veil layout works well. I like the pews, although the temple never had pews, so it would have been more historical to use opera seats. Really the only issue I have is that there used to be a plaster vase with flowers/fruit above the art glass window above the veil. It looks like this is being removed. I wish they would put it back in, even if they moved it to a different wall, which I guess is possible. 

6. Updated Celestial Room: 

I love the rendering of the celestial room. This matches the old black and white photos and adds beautiful colors that were lost in the 1960s remodel. Also, sconces on columns have returned, historic wallpaper has returned, etc. I like that the furniture looks much more period appropriate. I also love the additional art glass below the arched window at the veil. It matches and is an improvement. I did notice that the statue of a woman and children above the art glass window has been removed. This statue was supposed to be an Angel of Peace and is original to the temple, but it puzzled people who thought it was the virgin Mary, or a greek goddess, so I understand why it was removed. I hope this becomes a museum piece. I really hope they keep the cherub/cupid on the staircase to a sealing room and don't remove it. I think it is more recognizable as a symbol of love. 

7. Additional Sealing Rooms:

I like that they are adding more sealing rooms so couples aren't rushed through their wedding day. I also love the rendering, particularly the carved (or possibly cast plaster) fruit and flowers in the ceiling beams. These nicely match those in the celestial room.

The Manti Utah Temple Changes:

The planned loss of the murals makes me very sad. The world room murals in this temple are in my opinion the latter-day saint equivalent to the Sistene Chapel in Catholicism in that they are the finest and grandest art in our church and they also tell a scriptural time lapse. I don't understand why these would be removed when this temple is remote and doesn't need additional capacity and it would probably be better to build a temple in Richfield or Price if additional capacity is ever required. The only reason why they are doing this that I can think of is that this temple is too hard to seismically retrofit without removing them and so I will have to defer to that judgement. It is a shame though, especially because after the Logan Utah Temple was gutted, the Manti Utah Temple was restored due to President Spencer W. Kimball and others expressing regret that they had destroyed the pioneer craftsmanship and murals in the Logan Utah Temple. Now it seems like we have forgotten that regret and are planning to destroy temple murals again. I wish that these could be preserved or carefully scanned and repainted or high resolution printed and returned to the walls of this temple. But I am not in control and the First Presidency are ultimately the ones with all the facts and the inspiration to make this decision. Still, it hurts to lose these. I am optimistic that the remodeled rooms will be done period appropriate and that we won't end up with what happened in the Logan Utah Temple where the interior looks like the 1980s and really clashes with the exterior.

*Update: The church announced that Manti will not have murals destroyed and it will be preserved. So I'm no longer sad about that.

Those are my thoughts. We will have to support the decision of church leaders unless some miracle causes them to find a way to save the Manti murals and they decide to repaint the Salt Lake murals.

Jesus in Latter-day Saint Temples - Paintings

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. This post will highlight depictions of Jesus in paintings.

If you've ever walked through a latter-day saint temple then you know that about every second or third painting on the wall has Jesus in it. My post will focus on original art that was painted for a specific temple, with a few exceptions where a print is something like 30 feet wide and therefore intended never to be changed out.

Temple Baptistries

Many temples have paintings of the baptism of Jesus Christ in their baptistries. Several notable examples are shown below.

Laie Hawaii Temple Baptistry

The Laie Hawaii Temple has a series of paintings in the arches around the baptismal font. The central painting is of the baptism of Jesus. The other paintings highlight priesthood ordinances such as administering to the sick and baptisms or other people. Placing Jesus Christ in the center arch emphasizes his central role in our religion.

 

 

 

Cardston Alberta Temple Painting of Jesus's Baptism

The Cardston Alberta Temple has several original paintings of Jesus Christ. One in the baptistry shows the baptism of Jesus Christ, which I believe was painted by LeConte Stewart and was done in a pointillist style.

Idaho Falls Idaho Temple Baptistry

The Idaho Falls Idaho Temple also has a mural of the baptism of Jesus Christ above the font.

 

The Los Angeles California, Hamilton New Zealand, and London England Temples all feature paintings of the baptism of Jesus in their similar baptistries. I suspect the Bern Switzerland Temple may have a similar painting because it is a triplet with London and Hamilton, but I haven't seen photos to verify that.

Los Angeles California Temple Baptistry

Hamilton New Zealand Temple Baptistry

London England Temple Baptistry

 

Copenhagen Denmark Temple Baptistry Mural

The Copenhagen Denmark Temple features a huge mural of the baptism of Jesus Christ. Reproductions of smaller sections of this mural have also appeared in numerous temples. The scale of this mural is impressive and highlights the example of Jesus.

Many other temples have paintings of the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist.

Other Paintings of Jesus Christ

The Logan Utah Temple used to have a painting of Jesus Christ next to the temple veil. A reproduction of this painting currently hangs behind the recommend desk as you enter the temple.

Logan Temple Painting of Jesus

The Salt Lake Temple grand staircase has a huge painting with Jesus Christ as the central figure. I think this might show Jesus Christ appearing to the Nephites, although it might also be a second coming painting.

Salt Lake Temple Painting

The Cardston Alberta Temple has multiple original murals of Jesus Christ. I've already shown the baptism of Jesus Christ above. There are also paintings of the resurrected Jesus appearing to Mary at the empty tomb which is in the Terrestrial room, and a painting of Jesus administering the sacrament to the Nephites which is in the chapel.  

Jesus Appears to Mary, Cardston Alberta Temple

Jesus Institutes Sacrament to Nephites, Cardston Alberta Temple

The Idaho Falls Idaho Temple has a large mural of Jesus Christ teaching next to the grand staircase of the temple where it is intended to be noticed. The scene appears to be Jesus teaching in the temple.

Idaho Falls Temple Mural by Staircase

The Ogden Utah Temple has had a very large mural of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John witnessing the event and Moses and Elijah appearing. I couldn't find a picture of this, but it was preserved in the remodel of the temple and is in the lobby in the center of the temple. The painting fills an entire wall.

The Washington D.C. Temple has a stunning mural of the second coming of Jesus Christ. This huge mural is seen as you pass the recommend desk and start crossing the bridge into the temple proper. Initially, Jesus is the main part of the mural that you see. Once you cross the bridge and enter the lobby at the center of the temple, you can see the entire mural with the righteous on the right hand side of Jesus and the wicked in shadow on his left hand side. It is an inspiring mural and interior renderings from the recent remodel show that this mural has been preserved.

Washington D.C. Temple Mural - The Second Coming of Jesus Christ

Some temples have paintings of Jesus that aren't original, but that are such a part of the temple architecture and are on such a scale that I thought they were worth mentioning. The first one is in the Mexico City Mexico Temple waiting area behind the recommend desk. This mural shows Jesus Christ appearing to the Nephites after his resurrection. The original is in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, but it has been reproduced on such an impressive scale that I thought it was worth a mention.

Mexico City Temple Entry

The Vernal Utah Temple features a large print of the second coming of Jesus Christ in the Celestial Room. Due to the scale and position of this painting, I think it is intended to always remain in this place in this temple. It commands the room and as the central decoration in the focal room of the temple, I thought this picture was worth noting. I've seen this in many other temples, but never used quite as impressively. A similar scale print is used in the Bountiful Utah Temple chapel.

Vernal Utah Temple Celestial Room

The San Salvador El Salvador Temple has an original painting of Jesus Christ with indigenous central American children. This painting is behind the recommend desk and is an excellent piece that emphasizes that Jesus cares about all people. Reproductions of this mural have made it into other temples including the newly remodeled Ogden Utah Temple.

San Salvador El Salvador Temple Entry

These are some of the notable depictions of our Savior Jesus Christ in original paintings in temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Each temple, even tiny ones, contains dozens to hundreds of paintings of Jesus Christ. He is the focus of our worship and our means of obtaining salvation and exaltation. We love, honor, adore, cherish, and celebrate Jesus Christ in our worship and he is vital to our temple experience and worship.

Jesus in Latter-day Saint Temples - Stained Glass

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. This post will highlight depictions of Jesus in stained glass.

Sao Paulo Brazil Temple

This temple features stained glass of the resurrected Jesus Christ appearing to the Nephites in ancient America as depicted in The Book of Mormon

Palmyra New York Temple

This temple, near the site of the sacred grove where Jesus Christ and God the Father appeared to Joseph Smith in the First Vision has a stained glass window of that sacred event.

Snowflake Arizona Temple

This temple features a stained glass window of Jesus teaching children and adults.

Nauvoo Illinois Temple

The baptistry features a stained glass window of the baptism of Jesus complete with the Holy Ghost in the sign of a dove.

Redlands California Temple

A historic stained glass window of the first vision was saved from a church that was demolished and added to this temple's entry.

Manhattan New York Temple

A new stained glass of Jesus teaching apostles on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection was added to this temple.

Provo City Center Temple

3 temples received refurbished stained glass windows from a Presbyterian church that was torn down. This temple has on of the windows, Jesus as The Good Shepherd

Star Valley Wyoming Temple

Another window from the Presbyterian church was saved and used behind the recommend desk in the Star Valley Wyoming Temple. This one depicts Jesus knocking at a door, an allusion to the Book of Revelation.

Paris France Temple

A new stained glass window of Jesus Christ among flowers graces the Paris France Temple.

Cedar City Utah Temple

2 windows from the aforementioned Presbyterian church have been used in this temple. One is behind the recommend desk. It shows Jesus among lillies. The church hasn't published photos of the other stained glass window, but it might be the one of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane suffering the start of the Atonement which is shown in this article, unless that one is being used in a future temple.

I love these stained glass depictions of our Savior Jesus Christ. I hope the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues finding ways to include art glass of Jesus in our temples.

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.

The Newly Remodeled Ogden Temple - Part III

I have already written two posts about the newly remodeled Ogden Temple.  I'd like to give some more thoughts on this remodeled temple.

The remodeled temple is substantially nicer than the original temple.  The original building was built in a time of austerity for the church and while it was an offering to the LORD and a temple, it wasn't as nice as many others.  Frankly, it looked odd.  With time and close inspection I came to appreciate it, but I like that they completely remodeled it.  The remodel has changed the appearance of the Ogden Temple and it has also upgraded its quality in a way that wasn't practical during the original construction in the 1970s.  According to press releases and news reports, the temple has also been structurally upgraded to withstand earthquakes, had mechanical upgrades to increase energy efficiency, and has had significant upgrades to the temple grounds including underground parking and a remodel of the Ogden Tabernacle on the block.  I hope you can understand that the remodel of the Ogden Temple was more than just to make it more aesthetically pleasing (although it definitely has).  The upgrades made the building more efficient and safer and were necessary at some point.

The results of the temple remodel are spectacular.  I am just going to focus on the ordinance spaces here, but I did go into some more specific details in my previous posts.

Ogden Temple Baptismal Font

The baptistery is still laid out essentially as it was originally and is in the same location in the temple.  The main changes here are upgrading the wall coverings, carpet, lights, etc. and the addition of murals.  A baptistery chapel overlooks the font room with a glass wall between just as in the original temple (and others such as the Jordan River Utah Temple).  The font room has 3 original murals.  The side murals are of a river making it almost as if you are in the middle of a river while you are being baptized for the dead.  This river mural looks like it is probably the Ogden River or perhaps the Weber River.  On the front wall of the baptistery there is an interesting new mural of the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist.  I really like how the baptistery has been upgraded.   The lights in the baptistery are fairly simple, but really nice cylindrical chandeliers.  More on this later.  The confirmation rooms are still on the side of the baptistery chapel and appear to have been nicely redecorated.

Ogden Temple Ordinance Room

The endowment rooms are still laid out essentially as they were in the original temple.  There are six ordinance rooms on the top level with 3 on each side of the central celestial room.  I understand that you still spend all of your time in one ordinance room and then go into the celestial room.  The four ordinance rooms that are in the corners don't have exterior windows but they do have back-lit stained glass windows near the tops of the walls and along their ceilings.  The other two ordinance rooms are slightly larger and have stained glass also along the entire back walls which bring in a lot if natural light.  The altars are a pleasing mix of stone and wood with a design carved into the wood.  This same design is carved into the woodwork at the ends of each row of seats which nicely ties the altar to those seated.  This design is also carved into the columns on the walls and was on the original Ogden Temple.  You can read more in my first post.  Finally, the lights in the endowment rooms are really interesting.  They are cylindrical but they have a lot of interesting glass almost in petals.  They are more ornate versions of the baptistery chandeliers which is a great way to show progression in the temple.  I really like these endowment rooms.

Ogden Temple Celestial Room

The celestial room is still in the same location it was in the original temple at the center of the top floor.  Just as in the original temple there is a dome in its center only now it has been upgraded to an art glass dome that matches the stained glass on the walls.  Instead of having a central chandelier, the architects have placed four stunning chandeliers in the room.  These are very interesting art deco styled chandeliers with upper and lower crystals and I assume brass.  The chandeliers have a cylindrical profile and thus are similar to the baptistery and ordinance room chandeliers but more ornate.  I love them.  I also like the torchieres which are essentially chandeliers coming up from the ground or chandelier lamps.  You can read more about these in my previous posts.  There are also really nice hand carved stone pilasters with ornate capitals that I love as I discussed in my previous posts.  The furniture in the celestial room is really nice including a nicely carved table that has been custom made to match designs elsewhere in the temple.  I think some of the furnishings on the tables are from the original temple, although I am not certain about that.  I don't recall seeing any mirrors in the celestial room, which is unique.  I am fine with not having mirrors there.

Ogden Temple Sealing Room

The sealing rooms are on the second level as they were in the temple before it was remodeled. The arrangement of the sealing rooms has changed.  Several of the sealing rooms are on the outside of the temple with stained glass windows bringing plenty of light into the rooms.  The sealing rooms were originally fairly plain, but have been redone in a grand style complete with hand carved stone pilasters, stone altars, carved carpets, and extravagant gold leaf patterns.  The desert rose pattern is used throughout the temple and it works really nicely in the sealing rooms where it works as the symbol of love for those getting married.  The sealing room chandeliers are really exceptional.  They are more elaborate versions of those found in the celestial room.  Here four side clusters of crystal lights have been added.  I love these lights and I love how they symbolically show progression from room to room in the temple.  I love these sealing rooms.  They are some of my favorite ever.  Even the really small rooms that don't have windows are stunning.

As you can see, I love the newly remodeled Ogden Temple.  While the upgrades have significantly strengthened and improved the building from a practical standpoint, they have also improved it aesthetically and architecturally and brought it up to the standard of our finest temples.

I have a little more to write.  I think I will take a break for a few days and then write about the renovation of the temple block.