10 Fun Facts about the rebuilt Nauvoo, Illinois Temple

Pic Credit: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

-The Nauvoo, Illinois Temple was rebuilt from the original Nauvoo Temple that was destroyed in the 1840’s.

-The stone on the outside of the Nauvoo Temple was chosen to have the same color and texture as the limestone on the original Nauvoo Temple. The builders of the temple even looked into finding the same quarry that the first Nauvoo Temple was built from, but that quarry is now under water.

-The New Nauvoo Temple is the second currently operating temple in Illinois, the first is the Chicago Illinois Temple.

-Many of the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints face east, but the Nauvoo Temple faces west, where the Saints went to find religious freedom. It was said that this was done like two ”book ends” with the Salt Lake Temple and the Nauvoo Temple facing each other.

-The Nauvoo Temple has the largest baptismal font of all the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

-During the open house of the Nauvoo Temple there were 331,849 that came to see the temple!

-The Nauvoo Illinois Temple was dedicated on the very day and hour of the anniversary of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

-The dedication of the Nauvoo Illinois Temple was delivered over the Church's encrypted satellite system to Church buildings around the world.

-The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints did everything they could to make the new Nauvoo Temple like the old Nauvoo Temple that was destroyed. This process involved examining photographs, written descriptions and drawings, then piecing it all together. Managing director, Keith Stepan said ”We think the outside of the new Nauvoo Temple is as close as humanly possible to the original.”

-Specialized molds were created from the original sunstones and moonstones to ensure accurate replicas. Even with today’s tools the stone-carvers of the new Nauvoo Temple needed about the same amount of time as the original carvers of the sunstones, because of the details of each stone.

-Even the lighting in the Nauvoo temple is a little dimmer than regular lighting, to appear more like the light from candles, the way the original lighting of the Nauvoo Temple would have been.