Plus, workers finish the tall task of drilling 46 holes down the Salt Lake Temple’s stone walls.
| ChurchBeat | | Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025 |
Temple Square Is Getting 14 New Sculptures: Here Are the First Two and What Is Known About the Rest The totemic Salt Lake Temple’s ongoing seven-year seismic retrofit has included refreshing the Angel Moroni sculpture on its tallest spire with a new, gleaming 14-carat gold leaf cover. Some 210 feet below, the Temple Square grounds are undergoing a similar makeover that will eventually include 14 new sculptures commissioned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Visitors can see the first two of the statues now in place in the landmark square’s northwest quadrant. (Photos are below.) Here’s what we know about the other dozen sculptures: They will be unveiled this year and in 2026, according to the church. The additional statues will, like the first two, share moments from Christ’s life and ministry and from the history of the Church of Jesus Christ. In June, a church manager said three statues were scheduled to be in place by the end of 2024, so a third could be placed soon. “The renovation gave us the opportunity to recreate what the story would be for the sculpture and the gardens on Temple Square,” said Bill Williams, director of Temple Design for the church’s Special Project Department. The First Presidency has not announced the new location for the Christus statue that has been a feature of Temple Square since 1967. The now-demolished North Visitors’ Center was built around the statue, which stood on the second story and was visible through large glass windows facing the Tabernacle. The 11-foot Christus is a marble copy of the sculpture of the resurrected Christ by Bertel Thorvaldsen in the Church of Our Lady in Denmark. The Christus has been part of the symbol of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 2020. “The center of the symbol is a representation of Thorvaldsen’s marble statue, the Christus,” President Russell M. Nelson said then. “Jesus stands under an arch as a reminder of his emergence from the tomb three days after his death. It portrays the resurrected, living Lord reaching out to embrace all who will come unto him.” The First Vision sculpture The First Vision statue was placed in the northwest quadrant of Temple Square in November 2024. The sculpture is a depiction of the moment God and Jesus Christ appeared to a 14-year-old Joseph Smith in 1820 in New York, which church members call the First Vision. “It conveys the innocence of a young boy who is just looking for answers to spiritual questions,” Williams said. “I wanted something that would strike a chord in someone’s heart when they saw the piece,” sculptor Michael Hall said. “... This is a visual testimony for me to share my belief that God exists, that Jesus Christ is his Son, that he died for all of us and that because of this young 14-year-old boy, Joseph Smith, that we can know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do care about us.” Hall said his piece is meant to director visitors’ eyes to the faces in the sculpture. “If you look at the piece, it was designed in a way to very much lead your eye from Joseph up to the figure of Christ and then eventually to the figure of God and back to Christ.” “My most sincere hope and desire,” he added, “is that people will have a desire to develop a relationship with God so that they can find not only peace and happiness but the strength to overcome obstacles in their life.” The Come, Follow Me sculpture The second sculpture was placed in December and is called the Come, Follow Me statue. It is also in Temple Square’s northwest quadrant. Sculptor Ben Hammond created a piece of art that depicts two men whom Christ is calling to abandon their nets as fishermen and follow him. The two new sculptures are part of reflective gardens that are part of the square’s redesign. “It’s an oasis from the storms of the noise and chaos ... to feel the presence of the Savior,” said Jay Warnick, ground services manager for Church Headquarters Facilities. President Russell M. Nelson has said the Salt Lake Temple renovation and Temple Square project would “emphasize and highlight the life, ministry and mission of Jesus Christ in His desire to bless every nation, kindred, tongue and people.” |
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What I’m Reading ... I really enjoyed this unusually flowery but substantive story about BYU’s bowl game victory over Colorado: “Which Alamo Bowl story did you prefer: The fame or the football?” BYU’s chief of staff Hal Boyd provides a thorough survey of momentum across the university campus. Here’s a look at six ways the 2024 BYU football team exemplified Latter-day Saint values and the university’s mission. Famous Latter-day Saint George Romney received the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. His son Mitt accepted it for his dad. My wife and I love watching NFL players do individual and team dances after touchdowns or turnovers. They’re getting very creative. Here’s a fun story on the trend. Watch a new sneak peek of “The Chosen” Season 5. Why are more celebrities recently rediscovering faith? The oldest living Olympic medalist, a Holocaust survivor, died at age 103. |
The new First Vision statue is shown on Temple Square on Friday, November 22, 2024. It is the first of 14 new sculptures commissioned for Temple Square to be unveiled through 2026. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) |
The Come, Follow Me statue is placed in the northwest quadrant of Temple Square in Salt Lake City on Dec. 16, 2024. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) |
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