Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Kirtland Temple Tour
Kirtland Temple Tour
Welcome to our tour of the Kirtland Temple. The temple is owned by the RLDS church who provides tours to the public. Jason Denton was a tour guide and has graciously provided the text of the tour. Please be sure to email him and thank him for his time.
The Kirtland Temple is located at:
Kirtland Temple Historic Center
9020 Chillicothe Road
Kirtland, OH 44094
(216) 256-3318
and is open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Monday through Saturday) and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Sunday), all through the year. Closed Thanksgiving holiday (Thursday through Sunday).
We wish this to be a complete tour but it is missing one thing: pictures. If you have pictures of the Kirtland temple or the areas being described and wouldn't mind us using them, email me. Thanks.
Disclaimer and Explanation
I spent the summer of 1994 as an historical interpreter at the Kirtland Temple. What follows is what I can remember about the tours I gave. At the request of several individuals I have noted minor differences in what I did for RLDS/LDS groups. It should be noted that guides at Kirtland don't have a script, and are required to supplement basic knowledge of the structure with their own research. Since the classes required of the students working there provide far more information than can be squeezed into a 45 minute tour, we tend to hit only the highlights. Additionally, each guide's tours are constantly evolving, so it is hard to pin down what exactly an "official" tour might include.
I believe this information is basically correct, however, it should never, ever, to taken to be an official statement from the RLDS church. It may not even be accurate. For more/better information on Kirtland, read "The Kirtland Temple, A Historical Narrative" By Roger Launius. It's available from Herald House Books. Any inaccuracy contained herein in this account is strictly the fault of the author, Jason Denton . The spelling for Melchisedec priesthood used here is the RLDS version. I know LDS spell it differently, but I'm not sure how.
Kirtland Temple Tour 10/2/95
By Jason Denton
Stop 1 : Garden
Between the visitors center and the temple are the gardens. Groups usually stop here and try to recreate a little of what Kirtland would have been like in 1836. Across the street is Sidney Rigdon's house. The church moved to Kirtland because of the conversion of Sidney Rigdon and his followers. Previously he had been a Campilite minister and when he converted he brought most of his seventeen congregations with him. His importance in the Kirtland period can not be overstated. Without him, the church would not have developed as it did.
Behind the Temple was the church print shop and school. This is where the second edition of the BoM was published, and where the churches first hymnal was published. This hymnal was put together by Emma Smith. If the group is RLDS I usually mention that BY's publishing of a different hymnal in England was one of the first conflicts between the two of them. Emma won! RLDS folks like to hear this, I skipped it if the group is gentile or Mormon.
It also worth mentioning that the Saints initially intended a brick building. After spending a summer making bricks, they fired them only to have most of them break. A summers worth of wasted effort. They would have better luck in Nauvoo. Fortunately, Artemus Millet, a recent convert, came to Kirtland to build the Temple. He brought with him a technique known as rubble stone construction. The Saints quarried sandstone, then laid pieces of it flat. They then covered it in stucco outside and plaster inside. In order to make the building look like brick, lines where painted on to look like the mortar joints between the bricks. Millet sent men and boys out to gather broken crockery and glass to put in the mortar in order to enhance the brick appearance of the building and make it sparkle.
(Note : Most people have just heard me say "The women broke their best china to put in the stucco." This doesn't seem to be the case. The glass came from already broken dishes, ect...)
Stop 2 : Entry Way
The only real reason to stop here is to make sure the door gets closed. We usually end up talking about the bell. The bell didn't go in until 1890, though the saints intended it to be there since the first ($$$). Its still rung today, every Sunday.
Stop 3 : Top Floor
Built into the attic structure of the Temple, we don't generally take groups up this far; though various factors may influence this (group size, ect...). However, this area is divided into five rooms. Each room runs the length of the building, requiring that one go through all four preceding rooms to get to the back office, which was Joseph's. Each room was a dormer window built into the roof (The ten windows on the top of the structure). Oliver Cowdery discusses this floor in Our Village.
Access to the bell tower is up here as well, in a sort of antechamber before the offices. Nobody ever goes up there unless they're fixing the roof.
Stop 4 : School of the Apostle's
This floor was dedicated as "The School of the Apostle's". It is essentially what the school of the prophets developed into. Here the church members studied a number of subjects. They even brought in a Hebrew teacher, Joshua Seixas. The class eagerly and readily learned Hebrew, several members of the class earning certificates of advanced ability. Joseph's interaction with Joshua seem to have further developed Mormon ideas about Israel and Judaism.
This room, like the one below it, is essentially open. At the far end, a large window lets in light. At near end, a large interior window lets in light from the light well. In front of each window is a set of pulpits. Each set of pulpits is a four level arrangement with three pulpits in each set. The pulpits at the east end are for the Aaronic priesthood, west end for the Melchisedec. There are initials on each set of pulpits. The chart below gives them and their meaning.
The pillars in this room conceal a pulley mechanism which was intended to operate an elaborate set of curtains on rollers. This would have allowed the saints to partition off the room into four separate areas, as well as around and between each set of pulpits. Although a good part of the system is left intact, it isn't known exactly how the system worked. There's evidence to suggest it didn't.
Stop 5 : Light Well
Good place to stall while waiting for the group ahead of you to get out. Also a good place to talk about the great sacrifice the saints made to build the structure. It costs approx. $60,000; making it the most expensive temple ever built relative to the means of the Saints at the time.
Stop 6 : Lower Court, Sanctuary
This is it, the room most people come to see. Similar to the room above, only more ornate. The pulpits are higher, and have a greater amount of decoration. The holes in the ceiling are for the ropes that manipulated the curtains in this room (different system than the one upstairs). We know this system was used at least on Thursdays when JS Sr. had prayer and testimony meeting. These meetings could last all day and where so well attended the group had to be divided in order to get out in only six to eight hours. After packing the dedicatory service on March 27th, 1836, the Saints held another service on Thursday for those who couldn't get in.
The pulpits here are flanked on either side by raised pews. These would have been used to seat priesthood of the various callings after the main pulpits where filled. Like the pews in the upper room, the slips here move back and forth to allow the congregation to sit facing each end.
Before, during, and after the dedication the Saints report all sorts of pentecostal experiences in and around the temple. To the Saints, this was confirmation that God was pleased with the building and their struggle to complete it.
At this point, there where two question I usually got. First is "What about the restoration of the keys?" Answer : April 3, 1836; Sunday following the dedication. They where blessing children and confirming new members when JS and Cowdery withdrew into the pulpits, dropped the veils (curtains) and had the vision there. Best guess is that the pulpits in question are the Melchisedec pulpits in the lower court; but the accounts don't say. This is a VERY Mormon question. If I knew the group I'm with is all Mormon, I would go ahead and give the account without waiting to be asked. Otherwise I would just wait. The idea of "Keys" isn't really present in RLDS theology, and this vision barely makes a footnote in RLDS history (not canonized for LDS till 1876). If I just brought it up I would probably just get a lot of blank looks.
The second question is "What's in the basement?" There are two possible interpretations of this question, depending on whether the speaker is LDS or not. If the speaker is not LDS, the question is just what it seems and the answer is nothing. It was originally a crawl space and we dug it out to house the heating and cooling systems. If the speaker is RLDS this is also a good time to remind them that the foundation needs work and the donation plate is by the door on the way out (Historic sites never, ever have enough funds, remember this next time your at a museum).
If the speaker is LDS, the question usually means "Where's the font?" The answer is that baptism for the dead didn't start until 1842, when the church was in Nauvoo. First baptism's for the dead were done in the Mississippi.
Pulpits and designations, in ascending order
Aaronic
Initials Meaning
PDA Presiding Deacons Aaronic
PTA Presiding Teachers Aaronic
PAP Presiding Aaronic Priest
BPA Bishop Presiding over the Aaronic
(Bishops at this time strictly concerned with church finances,
still Melchisedec priesthood)
Melchisedec
Initials Meaning
PEM Presiding Elder Melchisedec
MHP Melchisedec High Priesthood
PMH Presiding Melchisedec High Priesthood (JS Jr., Hyrum)
MPC Melchisedec Presiding Council (JS Sr.)
Welcome to our tour of the Kirtland Temple. The temple is owned by the RLDS church who provides tours to the public. Jason Denton was a tour guide and has graciously provided the text of the tour. Please be sure to email him and thank him for his time.
The Kirtland Temple is located at:
Kirtland Temple Historic Center
9020 Chillicothe Road
Kirtland, OH 44094
(216) 256-3318
and is open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Monday through Saturday) and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Sunday), all through the year. Closed Thanksgiving holiday (Thursday through Sunday).
We wish this to be a complete tour but it is missing one thing: pictures. If you have pictures of the Kirtland temple or the areas being described and wouldn't mind us using them, email me. Thanks.
Disclaimer and Explanation
I spent the summer of 1994 as an historical interpreter at the Kirtland Temple. What follows is what I can remember about the tours I gave. At the request of several individuals I have noted minor differences in what I did for RLDS/LDS groups. It should be noted that guides at Kirtland don't have a script, and are required to supplement basic knowledge of the structure with their own research. Since the classes required of the students working there provide far more information than can be squeezed into a 45 minute tour, we tend to hit only the highlights. Additionally, each guide's tours are constantly evolving, so it is hard to pin down what exactly an "official" tour might include.
I believe this information is basically correct, however, it should never, ever, to taken to be an official statement from the RLDS church. It may not even be accurate. For more/better information on Kirtland, read "The Kirtland Temple, A Historical Narrative" By Roger Launius. It's available from Herald House Books. Any inaccuracy contained herein in this account is strictly the fault of the author, Jason Denton . The spelling for Melchisedec priesthood used here is the RLDS version. I know LDS spell it differently, but I'm not sure how.
Kirtland Temple Tour 10/2/95
By Jason Denton
Stop 1 : Garden
Between the visitors center and the temple are the gardens. Groups usually stop here and try to recreate a little of what Kirtland would have been like in 1836. Across the street is Sidney Rigdon's house. The church moved to Kirtland because of the conversion of Sidney Rigdon and his followers. Previously he had been a Campilite minister and when he converted he brought most of his seventeen congregations with him. His importance in the Kirtland period can not be overstated. Without him, the church would not have developed as it did.
Behind the Temple was the church print shop and school. This is where the second edition of the BoM was published, and where the churches first hymnal was published. This hymnal was put together by Emma Smith. If the group is RLDS I usually mention that BY's publishing of a different hymnal in England was one of the first conflicts between the two of them. Emma won! RLDS folks like to hear this, I skipped it if the group is gentile or Mormon.
It also worth mentioning that the Saints initially intended a brick building. After spending a summer making bricks, they fired them only to have most of them break. A summers worth of wasted effort. They would have better luck in Nauvoo. Fortunately, Artemus Millet, a recent convert, came to Kirtland to build the Temple. He brought with him a technique known as rubble stone construction. The Saints quarried sandstone, then laid pieces of it flat. They then covered it in stucco outside and plaster inside. In order to make the building look like brick, lines where painted on to look like the mortar joints between the bricks. Millet sent men and boys out to gather broken crockery and glass to put in the mortar in order to enhance the brick appearance of the building and make it sparkle.
(Note : Most people have just heard me say "The women broke their best china to put in the stucco." This doesn't seem to be the case. The glass came from already broken dishes, ect...)
Stop 2 : Entry Way
The only real reason to stop here is to make sure the door gets closed. We usually end up talking about the bell. The bell didn't go in until 1890, though the saints intended it to be there since the first ($$$). Its still rung today, every Sunday.
Stop 3 : Top Floor
Built into the attic structure of the Temple, we don't generally take groups up this far; though various factors may influence this (group size, ect...). However, this area is divided into five rooms. Each room runs the length of the building, requiring that one go through all four preceding rooms to get to the back office, which was Joseph's. Each room was a dormer window built into the roof (The ten windows on the top of the structure). Oliver Cowdery discusses this floor in Our Village.
Access to the bell tower is up here as well, in a sort of antechamber before the offices. Nobody ever goes up there unless they're fixing the roof.
Stop 4 : School of the Apostle's
This floor was dedicated as "The School of the Apostle's". It is essentially what the school of the prophets developed into. Here the church members studied a number of subjects. They even brought in a Hebrew teacher, Joshua Seixas. The class eagerly and readily learned Hebrew, several members of the class earning certificates of advanced ability. Joseph's interaction with Joshua seem to have further developed Mormon ideas about Israel and Judaism.
This room, like the one below it, is essentially open. At the far end, a large window lets in light. At near end, a large interior window lets in light from the light well. In front of each window is a set of pulpits. Each set of pulpits is a four level arrangement with three pulpits in each set. The pulpits at the east end are for the Aaronic priesthood, west end for the Melchisedec. There are initials on each set of pulpits. The chart below gives them and their meaning.
The pillars in this room conceal a pulley mechanism which was intended to operate an elaborate set of curtains on rollers. This would have allowed the saints to partition off the room into four separate areas, as well as around and between each set of pulpits. Although a good part of the system is left intact, it isn't known exactly how the system worked. There's evidence to suggest it didn't.
Stop 5 : Light Well
Good place to stall while waiting for the group ahead of you to get out. Also a good place to talk about the great sacrifice the saints made to build the structure. It costs approx. $60,000; making it the most expensive temple ever built relative to the means of the Saints at the time.
Stop 6 : Lower Court, Sanctuary
This is it, the room most people come to see. Similar to the room above, only more ornate. The pulpits are higher, and have a greater amount of decoration. The holes in the ceiling are for the ropes that manipulated the curtains in this room (different system than the one upstairs). We know this system was used at least on Thursdays when JS Sr. had prayer and testimony meeting. These meetings could last all day and where so well attended the group had to be divided in order to get out in only six to eight hours. After packing the dedicatory service on March 27th, 1836, the Saints held another service on Thursday for those who couldn't get in.
The pulpits here are flanked on either side by raised pews. These would have been used to seat priesthood of the various callings after the main pulpits where filled. Like the pews in the upper room, the slips here move back and forth to allow the congregation to sit facing each end.
Before, during, and after the dedication the Saints report all sorts of pentecostal experiences in and around the temple. To the Saints, this was confirmation that God was pleased with the building and their struggle to complete it.
At this point, there where two question I usually got. First is "What about the restoration of the keys?" Answer : April 3, 1836; Sunday following the dedication. They where blessing children and confirming new members when JS and Cowdery withdrew into the pulpits, dropped the veils (curtains) and had the vision there. Best guess is that the pulpits in question are the Melchisedec pulpits in the lower court; but the accounts don't say. This is a VERY Mormon question. If I knew the group I'm with is all Mormon, I would go ahead and give the account without waiting to be asked. Otherwise I would just wait. The idea of "Keys" isn't really present in RLDS theology, and this vision barely makes a footnote in RLDS history (not canonized for LDS till 1876). If I just brought it up I would probably just get a lot of blank looks.
The second question is "What's in the basement?" There are two possible interpretations of this question, depending on whether the speaker is LDS or not. If the speaker is not LDS, the question is just what it seems and the answer is nothing. It was originally a crawl space and we dug it out to house the heating and cooling systems. If the speaker is RLDS this is also a good time to remind them that the foundation needs work and the donation plate is by the door on the way out (Historic sites never, ever have enough funds, remember this next time your at a museum).
If the speaker is LDS, the question usually means "Where's the font?" The answer is that baptism for the dead didn't start until 1842, when the church was in Nauvoo. First baptism's for the dead were done in the Mississippi.
Pulpits and designations, in ascending order
Aaronic
Initials Meaning
PDA Presiding Deacons Aaronic
PTA Presiding Teachers Aaronic
PAP Presiding Aaronic Priest
BPA Bishop Presiding over the Aaronic
(Bishops at this time strictly concerned with church finances,
still Melchisedec priesthood)
Melchisedec
Initials Meaning
PEM Presiding Elder Melchisedec
MHP Melchisedec High Priesthood
PMH Presiding Melchisedec High Priesthood (JS Jr., Hyrum)
MPC Melchisedec Presiding Council (JS Sr.)
