Day 57 - 08/18/2010

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This morning we caught a free shuttle from the KOA to Temple Square. The shuttle is operated by the church, and volunteers drive the shuttle as service to the church and community.
In the summer of 1847 Brigham Young led 147 Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley, and proclaimed it to be the right place to settle. The first of 10,000 Mormons (a nickname for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) to seek refuge from persecution, and now comprise 40 percent of the city's population. In 1890 the practice of polygamy was ended, and in 1892 LDS temple was completed.
The shuttle driver informed us that their were church members that would take us on a free tour of Temple Square and the buildings if we were interested. We accepted the tour guides, and were very impressed with their knowledge. We saw the first LDS chapel that is still in use today, the conference building (where we were able to listen to a 30 minute pipe organ recital. We went through a couple of visitor's centers that covered the construction of the Temple, and much of the religious art that has been done for and given to the church over a period of more than 200 years.

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Photos

PICT0001
Waiting on tour guides.

PICT0043
Organ in conference center has 7.708 pipes spread across seven divisions.

PICT0045
My camera would not show all the seats in the main hall of the conference center. There is three levels of 7,000 seats per level for a total of 21,000 seats.

PICT0058
Picture of Temple across reflection pool.

PICT0062
Picture of entire Temple's reflection in pool.

PICT0007
The Assembly Hall organ contains 65 ranks, totaling 3,489 pipes.