Nauvoo Illinois Temple | ||||
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Number | 113 | |||
Dedication | June 27, 2002, by Gordon B. Hinckley | |||
Site | 3.3 acres (1.3 ha) | |||
Floor area | 54,000 sq ft (5,000 m2) | |||
Height | 162 ft (49 m) | |||
Official website • News & images | ||||
Church chronology | ||||
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Additional information | ||||
Announced | April 4, 1999, by Gordon B. Hinckley | |||
Groundbreaking | October 24, 1999, by Gordon B. Hinckley | |||
Open house | May 6 – June 22, 2002 | |||
Current president | Chris Vernon Church | |||
Designed by | FFKR Architecture [1] based on design by William Weeks | |||
Location | Nauvoo, Illinois, U.S. | |||
Geographic coordinates | 40°33′01.5″N91°23′04.4″W / 40.550417°N 91.384556°W | |||
Exterior finish | Limestone block quarried in Russellville, Alabama | |||
Temple design | Greek revival | |||
Baptistries | 1 | |||
Ordinance rooms | 4 (four-stage progressive) | |||
Sealing rooms | 6 | |||
Clothing rental | Yes | |||
Visitors' center | Yes | |||
Notes | Built on the site of the Nauvoo Temple and dedicated on the 158th anniversary of the death of Joseph Smith, the exterior is an almost exact reconstruction of the original temple. Primary difference is weather-vane has been replaced with a statue of Moroni. However, the interior has 4 progressive ordinance rooms with murals like those in the early Utah temples leading to the celestial room and 6 sealing rooms. | |||
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The Nauvoo Illinois Temple is the 113th dedicated temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is the third such temple that has been built in Illinois (the original Nauvoo and Chicago Illinois temples being the others).
Located in the town of Nauvoo, the temple's construction was announced on April 4, 1999, by church president Gordon B. Hinckley. [2] Groundbreaking was conducted on October 24, 1999 and the cornerstones were laid November 5, 2000. The structure itself was built in the Greek Revival architectural style using limestone block quarried in Russellville, Alabama. It is built in the same location as the original structure that was dedicated in 1846.
The origins of the temple go back to 1937. In that year, Wilford C. Wood purchased some of the land on behalf of the LDS Church and purchased another piece of land that he later sold to the church. He also organized a group of church members from the Chicago Illinois Stake, co-led by Ariel S. Williams, to clear and beautify the recently purchased land. At the time, the Chicago Stake was one of only two east of the Mississippi River. [3]
Wood purchased land in 1951 that included a house which was made a visitors center for the temple site. In the late-1950s, and then in 1962, agents for the LDS Church completed the purchase of the temple lot. [4]
The building measures 130 feet (40 m) long, 90 feet (27 m) wide, and 162 feet (49 m) tall to the top of the statue of angel Moroni, which sits atop the temple spire, in a pattern similar to the Salt Lake Temple. It has an area of 54,000 square feet (5,000 m2). It is the only operating temple of the LDS Church today that has a bell tower; the Kirtland Temple also has a bell tower, but it is not used as a functioning temple. The angel on the first Nauvoo temple was a weathervane, sculpted of metal. The figure was positioned horizontally as if it were flying, clothed in a robe and cap. The angel held a book in one hand and a trumpet in the other.
Church leaders and architects carefully worked to replicate the original exterior design of the 19th-century temple, which was damaged by an arson fire in 1848 and by a tornado on May 27, 1850. It was consequently condemned and demolished by the Nauvoo City Council. Construction materials and furniture were derived from the original design as well.
The interior floor plan of the temple is noticeably different from the original structure in which the endowment ceremony assumed its present format. At the direction of Joseph Smith, the west end of the attic story was divided by cloth partitions into four spaces used to administer the endowment. One of the canvas "rooms" was decorated with potted plants to suggest the Garden of Eden.
The Salt Lake City Endowment House and early Utah temples, each with a series of four ordinance rooms through which patrons moved during the presentation of the endowment, followed this layout. The first three rooms were decorated with murals representing, the creation of the world, the Garden of Eden, and the world after the fall of Adam and Eve. The fourth room, known as the Terrestrial Room, was ornately decorated but lacked murals. The Los Angeles California Temple, dedicated in 1956, was the last temple with this layout. Subsequent temples presented the endowment in one or two rooms without murals adorning the ordinance rooms. The use of murals resumed again in 2001 with the opening of the Columbia River Washington Temple.[ citation needed ]. The Nauvoo Illinois Temple, a throwback to the four room layout, is the sole exception, as it has the four-room progressive format with murals decorating the first three rooms.[ citation needed ]
After the temple was completed, a public open house from 6 May to 22 June 2002 attracted over 250,000 visitors to tour the temple. The completion and official dedication took place on June 27, 2002, on the anniversary of the death of Joseph Smith, the church's founder.
Up to 1.5 million visitors a year have visited Nauvoo since the temple opened in 2002. [5]
In 2020, like all the church's other temples, the Nauvoo Illinois Temple was closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. [6]
Notable presidents of the temple include Richard W. Winder (2002–04) and Spencer J. Condie (2010–13).
In Mormonism, the endowment is a two-part ordinance (ceremony) designed for participants to become kings, queens, priests, and priestesses in the afterlife. As part of the first ceremony, participants take part in a scripted reenactment of the Biblical creation and fall of Adam and Eve. The ceremony includes a symbolic washing and anointing, and receipt of a "new name" which they are not to reveal to others except at a certain part in the ceremony, and the receipt of the temple garment, which Mormons then are expected to wear under their clothing day and night throughout their life. Participants are taught symbolic gestures and passwords considered necessary to pass by angels guarding the way to heaven, and are instructed not to reveal them to others. As practiced today in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the endowment also consists of a series of covenants that participants make, such as a covenant of consecration to the LDS Church. All LDS Church members who choose to serve as missionaries or participate in a celestial marriage in a temple must first complete the first endowment ceremony.
Washing and anointing is a ritual purification ordinance, similar to chrismation, that is part of the temple endowment ceremony practiced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Mormon fundamentalists.
The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At 253,015 square feet (23,505.9 m2), it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth temple completed by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846. The temple was closed in December 2019 for a general remodelling and seismic renovations, which were initially estimated to take approximately four years. Subsequent updates extended the estimated completion to 2026, for a total renovation timeline lasting an anticipated six or seven years.
The Chicago Illinois Temple is the thirty-fifth temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the second of three church temples that have been built in Illinois.
The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The church's first temple was completed in Kirtland, Ohio, United States, in 1836. When the main body of the church was forced out of Nauvoo, Illinois, in the winter of 1846, the church attempted to sell the building, finally succeeding in 1848. The building was damaged by arson and a tornado before being demolished.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, a temple is a building dedicated to being a house of God and is reserved for special forms of worship. A temple differs from a church meetinghouse, which is used for weekly worship services. Temples have been a significant part of the Latter Day Saint movement since early in its inception. Today, temples are operated by several Latter Day Saint denominations. The most prolific builder of temples of the Latter Day Saint movement is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS Church has 350 temples in various phases, which includes 191 dedicated temples, 50 under construction, and 109 others announced. Several others within the movement have built or attempted to build temples. The Community of Christ operates one temple in the United States, which is open to the public and used for worship services, performances, and religious education. Other denominations with temples are the Apostolic United Brethren, the Church of Christ, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Los Angeles California Temple, the tenth operating and the second-largest temple operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is on Santa Monica Boulevard in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California, United States.
In temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an ordinance room is a room where the ceremony known as the Endowment is administered, as well as other ordinances such as Sealings. Some temples perform a progressive-style ordinance where patrons move from room to room, each room representing a progression of mankind: the Creation room, representing the Genesis creation story; the Garden room represents the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve lived prior to the fall of man; the World room, where Adam and Eve lived after the fall; the Terrestrial room; and the Celestial room representing the Celestial Kingdom of God, or more commonly, heaven. There is also an additional ordinance room, the Sealing room, and at least one temple has a Holy of Holies. These two rooms are reserved for the administration of ordinances beyond the Endowment. The Holy of Holies is representative of that talked about when the temple is discussed in the bible.
The St. George Utah Temple, formerly known as the St. George Temple, is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in St. George, Utah. Completed in 1877, it was the third temple constructed by the church and the first in Utah, following the westward migration of members from Nauvoo, Illinois, after the death of church founder Joseph Smith.
The Detroit Michigan Temple is the 63rd operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is located in Bloomfield Hills, a suburb of Detroit.
The St. Paul Minnesota Temple is the 69th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is located in Oakdale, Minnesota, United States, a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, and is the first temple of the LDS Church to be built in the state.
The Bismarck North Dakota Temple is the 61st operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Columbus Ohio Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It was completed and dedicated in 1999 as the church's 60th operating temple and serves church members living in 16 stakes, covering most of Ohio, but also extending into western Pennsylvania and southwestern West Virginia. The temple is in the western edge of Columbus, adjacent to Interstate 270 just north of its western junction with I-70.
The Columbia River Washington Temple is the 107th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple is the 104th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is located in Florence, now a neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska, USA, and formerly an independent city.
The Manhattan New York Temple is the 119th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the second "high rise" LDS temple to be constructed, after the Hong Kong China Temple, and the third LDS temple converted from an existing building, the previous two being the Vernal Utah Temple and the Copenhagen Denmark Temple.
The Endowment House was an early building used by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to administer temple ordinances in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. From the construction of the Council House in 1852, Salt Lake City's first public building, until the construction of the Endowment House, the members of the LDS Church used the top floor of the Council House for administering temple ordinances. When this arrangement proved impractical, Brigham Young directed Truman O. Angell, architect of the Salt Lake Temple, to design a temporary temple. Completed in 1855, the building was dedicated by Heber C. Kimball and came to be called the Endowment House after the endowment ceremonies that were conducted inside it.
On December 27, 1832, two years after the organization of the Church of Christ, the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, stated he received a revelation that called upon church members to restore the practice of temple worship. The Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio were commanded to:
"Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord. Temples are considered by church members to be the most sacred structures on earth.
In the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, an endowment refers to a gift of "power from on high", typically associated with the ordinances performed in Latter Day Saint temples. The purpose and meaning of the endowment varied during the life of movement founder Joseph Smith. The term has referred to many such gifts of heavenly power, including the confirmation ritual, the institution of the High Priesthood in 1831, events and rituals occurring in the Kirtland Temple in the mid-1830s, and an elaborate ritual performed in the Nauvoo Temple in the 1840s.