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Forbes recently published an excellent article about the effort to redesign the visitor experience at Temple Square, which launches the new “Inside a Temple” tour on Monday.
The article missed one important piece — Jesus Christ himself. Ironically, that was arguably the biggest reason for the makeover in the first place.
Consider that surveys show:
- 97% of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider their faith a Christian religion.
- 54% of the general American public consider the church to be Christian.
That gap in understanding was actually much worse among past visitors to Temple Square, many of whom were from international tour groups. Some of those visitors saw the Seagull Monument and left with the impression that church members worshiped the bird, not Jesus Christ, according to volunteers who led VIP tours and had access to the survey data.
Forbes mentioned Christ just once in its article, when it spelled out the name of the church.
Temple Square will be different.
It is now dotted with images of Christ, from new and historic statues to new still photographs taken from the church’s Bible video series. There also are depictions of Christ in paintings and stained glass at the new Temple Square Visitors’ Center. And the church already has displayed an increased ability to add Christ-related highlights to the square throughout the year, during general conferences or around Easter and Christmas.
The new statues of Christ include (see photos below):
- “Jesus Christ Carrying the Cross.”
- “Jesus Christ in Gethsemane.”
- “Come Unto Me.”
- “Joseph Smith’s First Vision.”
- “Come, Follow Me.”
More will be announced this year. They all will complement the “Christus” statue that is a six-decade landmark on Temple Square.
“Outside visitors really started to arrive at Temple Square in the 1870s as soon as the railroad comes to Utah,” said Emily Utt, historic sites curator with the Church History Department. “They would stop a gardener or one of the temple construction workers, who would just give a tour.”
The church built a bureau of information on Temple Square in 1902 after a church leader’s son overheard the guide of an outside tour group misrepresenting the church and its beliefs.
“The reaction was, ‘We need to stop letting other people tell our story,’” Utt said. “‘Let’s share our story from our perspective.’ This new visitors’ center on Temple Square is really a continuation of more than 100 years of us telling our story.”
Utt was struck by the statue that depicts Christ carrying his cross.
“I’m really intrigued by the statues of Christ, and I’m intrigued by which stories were selected, which aspects of Christ’s ministry have now been immortalized in bronze,” she said.
“This statue of Christ with the cross is a new chapter for us as a church. We haven’t really used the cross a lot in our imagery. So I’m excited that we’re willing to try some new things because Temple Square has never really been static.
“Every generation has tried something new and tried to tell the story differently.”
My recent stories
- Elder W. Mark Bassett, a Latter-day Saint general authority, dies at age 59 (May 11)
- President Oaks tours Salt Lake Temple following April surgery (May 8)
About the church
- Church leaders released a rendering for South Dakota’s first Latter-day Saint temple.
- Meet the five guest artists to join Tabernacle Choir benefit concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
- Latter-day Saint coach and Bishop Ken Niumatalolo talks about covenant keeping and commanding the Spartans.
- Latter-day Saint leaders discuss migrant support with leaders of International Organization for Migration.
What I’m reading
- Don’t miss this excellent profile of a Latter-day Saint woman who voiced a character in Disney’s animated hit “Encanto.”
- An elephant, socks, a crystal football: What do you give the pope?
Behind the scenes
