"Return to Nauvoo"
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Plans to rebuild the Nauvoo Illinois Temple were announced on April 4, 1999 by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.
Ground was broken on the original temple block on October 24, 1999. On November 5, 2000, Church leaders conducted a service to set in place cornerstones and commemorate the cornerstone ceremony of the original temple.
The exterior is a reconstruction of the original temple. Drawings from the 1846 temple allowed contractors to closely replicate the exterior as drawn in the original plans. While careful attention has been given to period details inside the temple, the interior is designed to function as a modern, operating temple. Murals like those in the early Utah temples were added to the Nauvoo Temple.
This is the Church's 113th temple worldwide and the 53rd in the continental U.S. It will serve more than 13,000 Latter-day Saints living in western Illinois and eastern Iowa.
The limestone exterior is a near duplicate of the original temple exterior. Quarried in Alabama, it is indistinguishable from the limestone used on the original temple.
The height of the temple is 162 feet 5 inches, to the top of the gold statue of the angel Moroni.
The perimeter of the 54,000-square-foot temple measures 90 feet by 130 feet. The interior consists of five levels and a basement.
The sun, moon and star stones on the exterior of the timple were replicated by craftsmen in Canada, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Idaho and Utah. Doors and window frames replicating the originals were hand-crafted in Nauvoo.
The baptismal font is a close replica of the original. The 12 oxen upon which the font rests are carved from limestone, as were the original oxen.
The window glass, made in France and Germany, is the same type of glass made in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Like the original windows, each circular window on the fourth floor contains a large star made of red, white, and blue colored glass.
The clock tower houses four working clocks, one facing each direction. The bell in the tower was cast in the Netherlands. It can be programmed to strike with the timing of the clock.
Public open house begins Monday, May 6 and runs through Saturday, June 22, 2002. No tours on Sundays.
Thirteen separate dedicatory sessions are scheduled for June 27-30, 2002.
Source: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
