Temple Square, A Visitor’s Perspective

 

This week, I spent a few days in Salt Lake City having some maintenance done on my camper van. My almost-always preference is to stay in remote state or national forest service campgrounds.

 

 

 

 

This time I thought I would change it up a bit and I found a nice RV park in downtown Salt Lake.

 

 

I spent an afternoon doing something I’ve always wanted to do – visit Temple Square, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka “LDS “, aka “Mormons”).

 

Temple Square occupies 10 acres in the downtown area, and per Wickipedia, is the most popular tourist destination in Utah – 3-5 million visitors a year. I didn’t find it crowded at all, but maybe I was there on an off day – it was a Tuesday afternoon.

The temple itself is an enormous and magnificent structure.

It has been standing since the late 1800’s, and the construction process took 40 years.

Being a building considered sacred by the church, there is no public access to the temple building. But the surrounding buildings were open to the public.

Instead of a tour, I’ll just share the things I found most interesting:

There are TWO visitor centers

Bookending the temple are two multi-floor visitor centers. My first stop was in what I will call the more secular of the two. It contained many displays and exhibits about the community/family approach of the LDS. Focus on the family, community welfare and the like.

As expected, the displays were top-notch.

There’s also display after display about the temple itself.  For example, the effort to haul stones for the building process…

… and a cutaway view of the temple.

The second visitor center seemed more focused on  the spiritual part of the religion. Many displays had as their subject matter the scriptures and/or Jesus.

 

 

 

 

In the center of the second visitor center is a multi-story ramp that leads up through walls painted with clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

At the top of the ramp is a very large room with a gigantic Jesus statue at the front.

 

 

There was little visible security

The tabernacle, the building that is the home of the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is situated across from the temple building. The door was unlocked, open, and had a sign welcoming all.

The only nods to security that I observed were rope railings that marked off areas that the public shouldn’t walk through.

Two young women were the only church members that I could see in the building, which houses the famous (and I am sure quite valuable), Tabernacle Organ. My understanding is that there are regular concerts, all open to the public.

Accessibility (to the areas that are accessible), is emphasized 

This was quite apparent when I stopped in to the Family History  Library. As many likely are aware, researching ones ancestry is an important task in the LDS church. The Family History Library is the largest genealogical library in the world, and It’s open to the general public. There is no charge to access its collection. I was able to, and encouraged to, visit each of the four floors and take my pictures. There was a metal detector, but it was on the way out.

I Became Parched, but My Thirst was Quenched

My visit was on a warm afternoon and I spent about three hours at the Temple Square. There were drinking fountains located near each rest room. But I didn’t see any vending machines or other places to get a bottle of cold water.

So, here’s what happened in my actual conversation at what looked like an information desk in the Church History Museum. There were three people, two women sitting, and a tall man off to the side to whom they were speaking.

Me : Good afternoon, I wonder if you could answer a question for me?

NOTE: I really talk that way — I’m always unfailingly polite in these places.

Woman # 1: Of course!

Me: Could you tell me where I could find a place to get a cold beverage?

Woman # 1: A cold beverage?

NOTE: From the pained look on Woman # 1’s  face, I honestly think she thought I wanted a beer.

Woman # 2 aka “Snickering Woman”: You know <kind of snickering>, we don’t drink Coke.

Me: No, no. I don’t need Coke. Water will be fine.

NOTE: I was thinking, “interesting that Snickering Woman used ‘we’. I don’t think  I am dressed like a hooligan”.

Woman # 1: Oh, there are drinking fountains around the corner.

Me; Yes, I saw those. I would just love to be able to buy a bottle of cold water.

Tall Wise Man: Here, I’ll tell you where to go. See those doors over there?

He is pointing out the window at the building across the courtyard, the Family History Library.

Me: I do.

Tall Wise Man: Go through those doors, and bear to the right. Walk all the way to the back of the building. Act like you know what you are doing.

Me: Ok, I can do that.

NOTE: I am thinking, “Acting like I know what I’m doing has gotten  me through most  of my life so far.  I can certainly do it right here, right now, to get this water.

Tall Wise Man: In the back, you’ll find lots of vending machines.

Woman # 1: I never knew that.

Snickering Woman: I didn’t either.

Me (to Wise Tall Man): Your secret is safe with me.

Sure enough, the vending machines were in what looked like an employee lounge. Lots of reasons to avoid providing that kind of stuff to the visiting public – litter, spills, etc. Marketers, remember cleaning up that crap from trade show booths?

Overall, I am glad I visited. The facilities are well-kept and the display designs are quite professional. If one were to read every exhibit in each visitor center and see every movie, one could spend a day or two. My intent was to get an overview, which I did. I will say, though, that I sat in the Tabernacle and gazed up at that beautiful pipe organ for several minutes.

If I ever visit again, it would be at at time to hear it being played.

It was super nice to be able to leave Sally and Trax safely in our camper with the air conditioning running while I took a Lyft car the three miles  from our park to the Temple Square and back again. But they had other opinions.

Thanks for visiting!