“The Salt Lake Temple,” Friend, Jan. 2010, 6–7
A Year on Temple Square
The Salt Lake Temple
Come with us this month for a look at this important place on Temple Square.
It’s an icy cold day in January. The towers of the Salt Lake Temple have a dusting of new snow. But Kate A. is more excited than cold. She has traveled to Temple Square from her home in Logan, Utah, for a tour of the Salt Lake Temple grounds.
It’s a sacred place, with many fascinating things to see and learn about.
Some of the temple’s walls are six feet (2 m) thick!
The angel Moroni stands on top of the tallest tower. Underneath, on a golden plaque, are the words “Holiness to the Lord.”
How long did it take the pioneers to build the temple? Kate found the answer on the brass doorknobs on the temple’s big wooden doors.
The Big Dipper is carved so that it points to the real North Star.
The temple’s granite walls are chiseled with the shapes of the sun, the moon, the earth, clouds, and stars.
Photographs by Craig Dimond, except as noted; opposite page: illustrations by Dilleen Marsh; photograph of Salt Lake Temple baptistry by Welden C. Andersen; center: photograph of temple by Greg Frei; left: photograph of temple construction courtesy of Church History Library; photograph of tools by Lana Leishman