Salt Lake Utah Temple

"The Salt Lake Temple, with its smooth granite exterior and six soaring spires, occupies a central position within Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah, and within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon religion) It sits in Temple Square, a downtown oasis of calm, surrounded by other important Mormon buildings such as the headquarters. the Tabernacle, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. and the conference center. The Mormon religion was first established in New York in 1830 by Joseph Smith Jr. and rapidly spread into Ohio, and then Missouri, in 1838 the so-called Mormon War resulted in the church followers fleeing to Illinois, where they again established a community. In 1844 Smith and his brother were assassinated, and the leadership of the church came under the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, fronted by Brigham Young, who led a group of Mormons into Utah to establish a new colony. Salt Lake remains the headquarters of the Mormon church today. The location for the richly symbolic temple was chosen just four days after Young and his party artived in Salt Lake. The building took more than forty years to complete, with the 1857 to 1858 Utah War (a conflict between the Mormons and the US. government) delaying construction, and the interior finally being completed in just a year. Granite from the local Little Cottonwood Carvon was used in the building work, and the exterior is full of symbolism depicting the journey of humankind from life and death to the eternal ever after Wilford Woodruff, the church's fourth president, dedicated the temple on Aprit6, 1893, and it continues to be the most Important Mormon church, occupying a crucial role in the history and development of Salt Lake City,"