The Salt Lake Temple may be closed for renovation, but children now have a new way to explore temples when visiting downtown Salt Lake City.
Temples Dot the Earth: Building the House of the Lord is a new exhibit at the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The exhibit opens to the public on February 13, 2020.
“One of our main goals in designing and installing this exhibition was to help youth and children know of the many beautiful features and purposes for building and attending temples,” said Maryanne Andrus, team leader for the exhibition planning team, according to a press release. “We hope they gain a sense of love and awe for these special places of worship.”
The exhibit is targeted at children ages 1–11. Bright colors, low tables and chairs, and interactive activities placed at child-height are central parts of the exhibit.
Craig Rohde, museum educator and planning team member, said his favorite activity tells the story of a group of Brazilian Latter-day Saints who traveled over 3,000 miles to get to the temple. The story is incorporated into a wooden table with toy boats, buses, and cars traveling through the buildings and landscape of Sao Paulo.
The entrance to the exhibit sets the focus on the Savior with a large painting by Matthew Judd of the boy Jesus leaving the temple in Jerusalem.
The exhibit will be open for approximately four years.
“The timing of the opening of this exhibit is indeed fortuitous,” said Ray Halls, museum educator and planning team member, according to a press release. “We didn’t realize when we began planning some three years ago, that the Salt Lake Temple would be closed for major renovation in 2020. How wonderful it is that this exhibition is open to all during a time when the temple itself is resting and not accessible.”
More information can be found at History.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Renderings: History.ChurchofJesusChrist.org
