Temple Square

Temple Square is a ten acre complex located in Salt Lake City, Utah, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Attracting 3 million to 5 million visitors a year, Temple Square is the most popular tourist attraction in Utah. In recent years, the usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities immediately adjacent to Temple Square. Contained within Temple Square are General Conferences of the Church (seating capacity of 6,000), Assembly Hall was later built (seating capacity of 2,000), LDS Church Office Building, and a 21,000 seat Conference Center on the block north of Temple Square.





In 1847, when Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, Church president Brigham Young selected a plot of the desert ground and proclaimed, "Here we will build a temple to our God." When the city was surveyed, the block enclosing that location was designated for the temple, and became known as Temple Square. Temple Square is surrounded by a high, granite wall that was built shortly after the block was designated for the building of the temple.


Today, Temple Square features two visitors' centers, called the North Visitors' Center and the South Visitors' Center. The North Visitors' Center was built first and features a replica of The Christus, a statue of Jesus Christ by Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen. The Christus is located in a domed room with large windows, painted with clouds, stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies.




The Conference Center (The 1.4 million square foot) is the premier meeting hall for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Completed in spring 2000 in time for the church's April 2000 general conference, the 21,000 seat Conference Center replaced the traditional use of the nearby Salt Lake Tabernacle, built in 1868, for semiannual LDS Church general conferences and major church gatherings, devotionals, and other events. It is the largest theater-style auditorium ever built.


The Church Office Building (COB) is a 28-story 420 ft building which houses the administrative support staff for the lay ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world. It is the second-tallest building in the city after the Wells Fargo Center, but appears to be taller because it stands at a higher elevation.


Salt Lake Tabernacle is the home of the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and was the previous home of the Utah Symphony Orchestra until the construction of Abravanel Hall. It is the historic broadcasting home for the radio and television program known as Music and the Spoken Word.


The Salt Lake Assembly Hall is a Victorian Gothic congregation hall. Rough granite walls are laid out in cruciform style making the hall's exterior look like a small gothic cathedral. Twenty-four spires mark the perimeter of the building's footprint and a tower rises from the intersection of the floor plan's apparent crucifix. The cruciform layout is complemented by Stars of David circumscribed high above each entrance. These symbolize an LDS perception that they are a re-gathering of Biblical Tribes of Israel.




Although built of quartz monzonite rock from the same quarry as the Salt Lake City Temple, the Assembly Hall's unhewn exterior looks much different. The stones for the Assembly Hall were not cut as exactingly as the Temple's. This accounts for the building's dark, rough texture and the broader masonry joints between stones.



Seagull Monument sits directly in front of the building to the east. The Seagull Monument is a small monument situated immediately in front of the Salt Lake Assembly Hall on Temple Square, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Monument commemorates what some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church, see also "Mormons") call the Miracle of the Gulls.