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by Glenn Blaylock on May 7th, 2005
The big difference between the Kirtland temple and the most of the others that we have built is that the Kirtland temple was really little more than a meeting hall. In my opinion, it really served just two purposes. It was a test of the dedication of the saints in Kirtland to build it despite all of the other hardships they were enduring at that time. Once it was completed, it was a place where Joseph Smith could receive additional revelations and authority from God.
The original Nauvoo temple was a transitional building between the Kirtland design and the basic floor plan that would be standard starting in Utah. The Nauvoo temple was still mostly a meeting hall, but it had rooms in the basement and attic that were set aside for the performance of the ordinances that are the staple of our temple worship today. In both the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples, meeting halls occupied all of the first and second stories of the buildings.
When the Saints arrived in Utah and started building temples there, the ordinance rooms became a much more prominent part of the floor plan. These temples each still had a Large meeting hall in their design, but it did not occupy most of the building as had been the case with the first two temples.
Finally, during the twentieth century, as the Church really began to establish congregations in other nations, the demand for temples grew. So, the Church started building smaller temples. These smaller temples cost less. So, we could build more of them and, therefore, put them closer to the people who needed them. One of the concessions in the design of the smaller temples was that they complete lacked the large meeting halls. The floor space in most, if not all, of the temples we build today are mostly occupied by the ordinance rooms.
Why is some of the architecture in the Nauvoo Illinois Temple similar to Masonic symbols and motifs?
by Alatea on November 10th, 2005
| 1 person likes this
I'm in Salt Lake right now, and I just noticed a lot of different symbols on the outside of the Temple such as the big dipper and like two hands shaking. What do they represent?
by Anonymous on July 10th, 2005
| 4 people like this
Do Mormons use the sun, moon, and stars as key symbols in the temple?
by Alatea on December 16th, 2005
| 1 person likes this
what is the basic architecture of the architectual design of a specific cathedral that you can think of?
by pearloaf is not yelling and dreams of bal on January 19th, 2011
| 1 person likes this
Do secret tunnels in Utah lead directly to the Mormon temple?
by Alatea on November 25th, 2005
| 2 people like this
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