“How Firm a Foundation,” Liahona, June 2025, United States and Canada Section.
How Firm a Foundation
Remaking the Salt Lake Temple to stand through the Millennium.
When completed, the renovated Salt Lake Temple will be better equipped to accommodate larger congregations, increasing the opportunity for significantly more people from around the world to participate in temple ordinances.
Honoring original pioneer craftsmanship while upgrading the temple to withstand natural disasters required exhaustive engineering. Making seismic upgrades to a 170-million-pound (77 million kg) building has never been done anywhere in the world.
Some portions of the temple that were removed in the current renovation were not original, since renovations in the 1930s, 1960s, and 1980s altered various areas of the temple. Many historic elements were painted over or removed through the years, especially during the most extensive renovation from 1962 to 1966.
Portions of the current temple with historical or spiritual significance are being remodeled with an eye toward original designs, such as the celestial room, two original sealing rooms, the large assembly room on the fifth floor, the stone spiral staircases in the four corner towers, and most of the terrestrial room.
An artist at work in one of the temple’s original sealing rooms.
Historic research discovered patterns and designs original to the temple that will be incorporated in carpets, draperies, fabric, paint, rugs, and trims.
Even with modernization, the temple will feel like the original Victorian-era interior, said Bill Williams, director of the Design Services Division in the Special Projects Department. “I think for most people it will feel like, ‘Wow. Now it feels like the Salt Lake Temple.’”
Interior Changes and Expansion
Some elements of the temple could not be preserved. The process of strengthening and stabilizing the temple required changes to floor plans and the removal of portions of the historic interior.
Seismic upgrades required the removal of the grand staircase that connected the first and second floors. Many interior walls that were built by the limited tools and scarce resources of pioneer times lacked reinforcement to endure safely and were demolished. Hand-painted murals on plaster in the endowment rooms were removed. Historians photographed the murals and other artifacts, and portions will be kept in the Church History Museum.
“The Salt Lake Temple is a living building—with a past and a future,” said Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé. He further stated, “I rejoice that this significant renovation is creating spaces for future generations to have their own sacred experiences.”
This temple in the Rocky Mountains is well recognized around the world. During the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, scarcely was there a time when one international film crew or another was not videoing the temple exterior. This magnificent edifice, constructed in the poverty of an outcast society, has conjured much interest and curiosity during its 132 years.
All interior improvements are designed to honor its pioneer heritage, with the hope that patrons will see and feel what the pioneers saw and felt.
Detail of the ceiling in an endowment room of the Salt Lake Temple.
Improving Capacity and Accessibility
Besides seismic safety, another primary purpose of the renovation was improving capacity and accessibility. The changes to the interior will allow the temple to serve more patrons.
The underground addition to the temple added 100,000 square feet for ordinance work. The existing temple has 253,000 square feet of floor space. The temple will have two baptistries. The original cast-iron oxen are being restored and placed in one baptistry. It will have 22 sealing rooms, up from 13. It will have five instruction rooms with increased seating space.
The renovated temple will be like many other temples with single-room video presentations, where patrons will remain for the entire session, available in more than 90 languages. The increased capacity and improved accessibility allow more sessions to occur each day and more people from around the world to participate.
Improvements are also being made to enhance accessibility. New elevators have been added throughout the building. Stairs and ramps have been eliminated between instruction rooms. The instruction rooms will have high-quality audiovisual systems for support of different languages and patrons with hearing needs.
Lighting and mechanical systems will improve patron comfort and eliminate distractions. More efficient utilities, such as heating, air conditioning, and electrical and plumbing systems, are also being added.
Perhaps what patrons will enjoy most are design changes that direct the interior to a central corridor, allowing patrons to move more easily throughout the temple.
“We want to create a positive, seamless experience for everyone who visits the temple,” said Andy Kirby, director of the Church’s historic temple renovations.