“High on the Mountain Top, a Millennial Temple is Renewed,” Liahona, June 2025, United States and Canada Section.
High on the Mountain Top, a Millennial Temple Is Renewed
Improvements will reinforce Temple Square in Utah as a worldwide center of Christianity.
Towering majestically above the desert floor for more than 130 years, the Salt Lake Temple has stood sentinel over a growing worldwide Church, a testament of faith in Jesus Christ and sacrifice from a people determined to live God’s laws. For generations, the temple has been the focal point of God’s plan for the happiness of His children.
The time has come, announced President Russell M. Nelson in April 2019, to “enhance, refresh, and beautify the temple and its surrounding grounds.” This would include replacing obsolete systems, addressing safety and seismic concerns, and making other improvements.
“The Salt Lake Temple is a living building,” said Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé, “with a past and a future.” Preparing the temple for future demands is the purpose of this ongoing, major-scale development, already over five years in progress.
The temple is being prepared for a new era in the work of the Lord. The edifice built by pioneer toil during 40 years served the purposes of the Lord for over a century. The demands of the future will require a temple that could not have been built in pioneer times. Modern technology and resources will enhance the capacity of the temple to endure natural catastrophe, as well as serve a vastly greater number of patrons with varying languages from around the world. The plan is breathtaking in scope and a testament to the faith and skills and resources of the modern day.
This bold renewal project is often measured in tons of concrete girders and base isolators. But the greater vision of this renovation effort is more about inviting all to learn of Christ. The grounds will bear a dynamic and resounding witness of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and His desire to bless all people. Improvements will reinforce the site as a center of Christianity.
Walkways will be lined with lush vegetation as in years past. Several heroic-sized statues will recreate highlights of the Lord’s ministry, enticing visitors to Temple Square to step out of the din of life and into a serenity that will coax reflection and contemplation, an opportunity to commune with the divine (see page U12 for more on the statues).
Visitors will not merely enjoy a pleasant stroll but will be beckoned to ponder, to take time to see and consider, to feel and taste of Christ’s goodness.
Divine Timing
Such an undertaking has been years in the making. It began with studies and research, followed by years of planning and preparation. A mind-numbing number of details and resources had to align before even a shovelful of dirt was turned. Then heaven’s approval was sought.
The work began in earnest when temple doors closed on December 19, 2019. Since then, large cranes have hovered and swirled over the grounds, while a dizzying web of scaffolding created a maze of corridors around the temple. Day after day, workers scurry between structures, dump trucks haul vast amounts of soil, at times cement flows like the nearby City Creek during spring runoff as crews pour bulwark-like foundations to steady the original rock foundations. Despite the scale of the project, there is a sense of orchestrated chaos.
In all the rigor of setting 98 base isolators around the 170-million-pound (77 million kg) temple—each weighing 18,000 pounds (8,165 kg)—upon which the building will glide during an earthquake, the mammoth gray temple remained rock solid, as if oblivious to the massive construction around, beneath, and within it.
The effect of shaking and rattling the ground while drilling beneath to weave 262 miles of thick cable didn’t disturb artisans standing on scaffolding high in the celestial room as they used makeup-thin brushes to paint delicate moldings on the ceiling.
Original plans called for completion in 2024. Despite the brilliance of engineers who specialize in seismic upgrading, challenges arose which had never been encountered. Best estimates foresee completion in 2026.
A Jobsite with Reverence
Engineers based in San Francisco, who were unacquainted with the doctrine of the Church, now say they have grown in reverence and respect for pioneer craftsmanship. They often marvel at the precision and skill of the early settlers who built such a monument with only crude tools, limited resources, and sheer faith.
At times, the engineers said, only prayer could resolve unforeseen problems. The surety of prayer became so common in finding answers that they now refer to such experiences as the “temple influence.”
President Nelson promised that “you will love the results,” and those results are exceeding expectations. Visitors to portions of the temple grounds that are complete and open to the public find that the improvements enhance, refresh, and beautify the site.
For passersby, viewing construction from the various public overlook sites will bring analogies to mind. For instance, just as the weight of the temple is being transferred from the original foundation to a new, more sure foundation, so the weight of life with its sins and foibles can be transferred to Christ by His atoning grace.
“We are sparing no effort to give this venerable temple, which had become increasingly vulnerable, a foundation that will withstand the forces of nature into the Millennium,” said President Nelson. “In like manner, it is now time that we each implement extraordinary measures—perhaps measures we have never taken before—to strengthen our personal spiritual foundations. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures.
“… These are the latter days,” he continued. “If you and I are to withstand the forthcoming perils and pressures, it is imperative that we each have a firm spiritual foundation built upon the rock of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ [see Helaman 5:12].”