Photo caption: A scaled model of the Salt Lake Temple sits in the South Visitors' Center on Temple Square
CNN.com has labeled The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Salt Lake Temple one of “8 religious wonders to see in the U.S.”
Temple Square, the 35-acre area on which the Salt Lake Temple sits, attracts millions of visitors each year from all over the world. The temple, which took 40 years to build, was completed in 1893.
Although visitors are always welcome on the temple grounds and in the temple’s comfortable foyers and waiting rooms, only Latter-day Saints who adhere to the faith can enter into one of the Church’s 138 dedicated temples. With this in mind, CNN.com writer Marina Scomor includes helpful information for first-time visitors to Temple Square: “For those not allowed inside the temple, a scaled model is on display in the Temple Square South Visitors' Center, which shows off the building's interior.”
The scaled model (pictured above) is an 88-inch tall replica of the Salt Lake Temple. The model sits in front of a giant window in the South Visitors’ Center facing the actual building that it replicates. The south and east walls of the replica are cut away to show depictions of many of the temple’s rooms, including the large assembly hall and rooms where the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles meet. The baptistry and other ordinance rooms are also depicted. Close attention is paid to detail, and even paintings, furniture and working chandeliers and lamps imitate those found in the actual temple.
Read the entire story at CNN.com.
Related Resources
Summer Travel Series: Temple Square
Background on the Salt Lake Temple
Watch an October 2010 story about the scaled model of the Salt Lake Temple:
Photos of the Salt Lake Temple and Temple Square
