Nauvoo Temple
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See also: Nauvoo Illinois Temple for the article on the temple rebuilt on the site with the same external look.
The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple to be completed by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons. The church's first temple was completed in Kirtland, Ohio in 1836. When the main body of the church was forced out of Nauvoo, Illinois in the winter of 1846, attempts were made to sell the building which finally succeeded in 1848. The building was later demolished by a succession of events.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reacquired the lot on which the original temple had stood. The Church built a temple whose exterior is a replica of the first temple, but whose interior is laid out like a modern Latter-day Saint temple standing on the original site. On 27 June 2002, this new temple was dedicated as the Nauvoo Illinois Temple, to distinguish it from the original temple built on the site.
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[edit] History
The Latter-day Saints made preparations to build a temple soon after establishing their headquarters at Nauvoo, Illinois in 1839. On 6 April 1841, the temple's cornerstone was laid under direction of Joseph Smith, Jr., the church's founder. Sidney Rigdon gave the principle oration. At its base the building was 128 feet long and 88 feet wide with a tower and weather vane reaching to 65 feet—a 60% increase over the dimensions of the Kirtland Temple. Like Kirtland, the Nauvoo Temple contained two assembly halls, one on the first floor and one on the second, called the lower and upper courts. Both had classrooms and offices in the attic. Unlike Kirtland, the Nauvoo Temple had a full basement which housed a baptismal font. Because the Saints had to abandon Nauvoo, the building was not entirely completed. The basement with its font was finished, as were the first floor assembly hall and the attic. When these parts of the building were completed they were used for performing ordinances (basement and attic) or for worship services (first floor assembly hall).
The Nauvoo Temple was designed in the Greek Revival style by Mormon architect William Weeks, under the direction of Smith. Weeks' design made use of distinctively Latter-day Saint motifs, including Sunstones, Moonstones, and Starstones, representing the Three Degrees of Glory in the Mormon conception of the afterlife.
Construction was only half complete when Smith was assassinated in 1844. After a succession crisis, Brigham Young was sustained as the church's leader by the majority of Mormons in Nauvoo. As mob violence increased during the summer of 1845, he encouraged the Latter-day Saints to complete the temple even as they prepared to abandon the city. Young likely altered the original plans to add a large pediment beneath the cupola. Even as the temple was under construction portions of it were used for sacred rites, such as baptisms for the dead in the basement font. During the winter of 1845-46, the temple began to be used for additional ordinances, including the Nauvoo-era rituals of Endowment and Sealings in Marriage and Adoptions. The Nauvoo Temple was in use for less than three months.
Most of the Latter-day Saints left Nauvoo, beginning in February of 1846, but a small crew remained to finish the temple's first floor, so that it could be formally dedicated. Once the first floor was finished with pulpits and benches, the building was finally dedicated in private services on 30 April 1846, and in public services on 1 May. In September 1846 the remaining Mormons were driven from the city and vigilantes from the neighboring region, including Carthage, Illinois entered the near-empty city and vandalized the temple.
The church's agents tried initially to lease the structure, first to the Catholic Church, and then to private individuals. When this failed, they attempted to sell the temple, asking up to $200,000, but this effort also met with no success. On 11 November 1848, the church's agents sold the building to another Mormon, David T. LeBaron, for $5,000. Finally, the New York Home Missionary Society expressed interested in leasing the building as a school, but on 19 November 1848 the temple was set on fire by arsonists. Nauvoo's residents — mostly non-Mormons and the few Mormons remaining in Nauvoo — vainly attempted to put out the fire, but the temple was entirely gutted. James J. Strang, leader of a rival faction of Latter Day Saints, charged Young's agents with destroying the temple; however, these charges were never proven. On 2 April 1849 LeBaron conveyed the fired damaged temple to Etienne Cabet for $2000. Cabet, whose followers were called Icarians, hoped to establish Nauvoo as communistic utopia.
On 27 May 1850, the temple was struck by a tornado which toppled one wall, and Cabet ordered the demolition of two more walls in the interests of public safety, leaving only the façade standing. The Icarians used much of the temple's stone to build a new school building on the southwest corner of the temple lot. By 1857 most of Cabet's followers had left Nauvoo. Over time many of the original stones for the temple were used in the construction other buildings throughout Hancock County. In February 1865 Nauvoo's City Council ordered the final demotition of the last standing portion of the temple—one lone corner of the façade. Soon afterwards, all evidence of the temple disappeared, except for a hand pump over a well that supplied water to the font. Three of the original sunstones are known to have survived and are on display — one is on loan to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Visitor Center in Nauvoo, one is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C, the third and only one that has not been restored, along with the only moonstone on display is at the Joseph Smith Historic Center (Community of Christ).
Between 1937 and 1962, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reaquired the lot on which the temple stood. In 1999 church president Gordon B. Hinckley announced the rebuilding of the temple on its original footprint. After two years of construction, on 27 June 2002, the church dedicated the new temple, whose exterior is a replica of the first temple, but whose interior is laid out like a modern Latter-day Saint temple.
[edit] Sources
- Brown, Lisle G. (1979). "The Sacred Departments for Temple Work in Nauvoo: The Assembly Room and the Council Chamber". Brigham Young University Studies 19 (3): 361-374.
- Brown, Lisle G. (2002). "Nauvoo's Temple Square". Brigham Young University Studies 41 (4): 1–45.
- Colvin, Don. (2002) The Nauvoo Temple: A Story of Faith. American Fork, UT: Covenant Communications.
- Nauvoo: History in the Making. (2002) CD-ROM. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
[edit] References
- Brown, Lisle G. (2002). ""A Perfect Estopel": Selling the Nauvoo Temple". Mormon Historical Studies 3 (2): 61–85.
- Crocket, David R. (1999). "The Nauvoo Temple, A Monument of the Saints". Nauvoo Journal 11 (1): 5–30.
[edit] See also
- Temple (Mormonism)
- List of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- List of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by geographic region
[edit] External links
- Official LDS Temple Page - Nauvoo Illinois
- Nauvoo Temple - LDS Church News
- Nauvoo Temple - History of the Nauvoo Temple
- History of Mormon Temples
- Lightplanet - Mormon Temples
- Mormons and Masons
- Mormon Temples and Secrecy
- Mormon Temple Ordinances
- Mormon Temple Worship - BBC Religion & Ethics
