The House of the Lord: A Study of Holy Sanctuaries Ancient and ModernTalmage, James E. (James Edward)
Religion
The House of the Lord: A Study of Holy Sanctuaries Ancient and Modern
Talmage, James E. (James Edward)
Latter Day Saint temples; Temples
An upholstered altar stands near the east end of the room, with copies
of sacred writ in place. In this room, lectures are given pertaining
to the endowments and emphasizing the practical duties of a religious
life. It is therefore commonly known as the upper lecture room, but in
view of its relation to the room that follows, we may for convenience
designate it the Terrestrial Room. At the east end is a raised floor
reached by three steps, across which springs an arch of thirty feet
span. The arch is supported by five columns between which hangs a
silken portiere in four sections. This is the Veil of the Temple.
_The Celestial Room:_ From the room last described to the one now under
consideration the passage leads through the Veil. This is a large and
lofty apartment about sixty by forty-five feet in area and thirty-four
feet in height, occupying the northeast section of the building on this
floor. In finish and furnishings it is the grandest of all the large
rooms within the walls. If the last room described could be considered
typical of the terrestrial state, this is suggestive of conditions yet
more exalted; and it may appropriately be called the Celestial Room.
The west end is occupied wholly by the Veil. {190} The east wall is in
part taken up by two triple mirrors, thirteen feet high; the central
section of each is three feet eight inches wide, and the side sections
each three feet in width. Along the walls are twenty-two columns in
pairs, with Corinthian caps; these support entablatures from which
spring ten arches, four on either side and one at each end. Within the
recesses formed by these arches and suspended from the wall-columns,
are paintings and busts of past and living leaders of the Church, and
canvases depicting scenes in Bible lands and incidents of interest
in Church history. Prominent among these are paintings by Lambourne,
showing the Hill Cumorah[5] and Adam-ondi-Ahman.[6] Choice canvases
illustrative of scenes in the life of Christ and small statuary are
disposed with excellent effect about the room. The ceiling is a
combination of vault and panel construction elaborately finished.
Massive cornices and beams separating the ceiling panels are richly
embellished with clusters of fruit and flowers. The color scheme of the
walls is soft brown relieved by the light blue of the fluted columns
and by abundant trimmings in gold. Eight electroliers with shades
of richly finished glass depend from the ceiling, and each of the
twenty-two columns holds a bracket of lights in corresponding design.
A newel-post at the east bears a flower-cluster of colored globes with
an artistic support in bronze. The floor is covered by a heavy carpet
and the movable furniture is all of rich yet appropriate design. Palms
and other living plants are held in shapely jardinieres of finest ware.
At the east is a short flight of {191} stairs leading into an office
reserved for the president of the Temple.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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