Mormon Triva: The Angel Moroni Statue
4 Jan
January 4th is “National Trivia Day” in the USA. [You're welcome to play along no matter where you live]. It seems only appropriate I should share some interesting Mormon Trivia. So, here’s everything you need to know, and more, about:
THE ANGEL MORONI STATUE
Joseph Smith and The Angel Moroni
A large majority of Latter-day Saint (“Mormon”) Temples across the world have a gold-leaf statue perched on the top spire. The statue depicts a man in flowing robes blowing a trumpet. This recognizable Mormon symbol represents a heavenly messenger [angel] named Moroni, who appeared to the first Latter-day prophet Joseph Smith , visiting on several occasions. Moroni showed Joseph where the records of an ancient American civilization were buried, which were translated into the Book of Mormon. [extra trivia tidbit: the prophet Mormon which the book is named after and where Latter-day Saints get their nickname, was Moroni's father]
1840's Nauvoo "Flying Angel"
AN EARLY ANGEL:
The first angel placed on an LDS temple was the original Nauvoo Illinois Temple built in the 1840′s and destroyed by fire in 1848. The angel fulfilled a tri-functional purpose as religious symbol, weather vane, and lightning rod. This statue did not officially represent an angel Moroni. It was depicting a ”Flying Angel”, as inspired by Revelation 14:6,
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.”
THE FIRST OFFICIAL ANGEL MORONI STATUE:
The Salt Lake Temple, dedicated in 1893, was the next LDS temple topped with an angel, and, the first to be formally identified as representing the angel Moroni. This statue was designed by an American Presbyterian sculptor living in Salt Lake City named Cyrus Dallin.
Cyrus E. Dallin, 1880
Cyrus Edwin Dallin was born in Springville, Utah, on 22 November 1861. His ancestors converted to the LDS Church in England and immigrated to Utah in 1851. Once there, however, Dallin’s parents joined the Presbyterian Church. As a child he loved sketching and modeling with clay. Eventually he studied art in Boston.
When LDS President Wilford Woodruff asked Dallin to create the statue, he declined, saying he “did not believe in angels.” President Woodruff was not deterred. He encouraged Cyrus to consult with his mother, a former Latter-day Saint.
The sculptor’s mother felt strongly that her son should accept the commission. When Cyrus repeated he did not believe in angels, his mother asked: “Why do you say that? You call me your ‘angel mother.’ ” She encouraged him to study LDS scriptures for inspiration, which he did.
SLC Temple Angel
Dallin’s design was a dignified, neoclassical angel in robe and cap, standing upright with a trumpet in hand. The original 40-inch plaster model was completed by 4 October 1891 and exhibited at the Salt Lake Fair. A full-size model was sent to Salem, Ohio, where the statue was hammered out of copper and covered with 22-karat gold leaf.
The 12-foot-5-inch statue stands on a stone ball on the 210-foot central spire on the east side of the temple.
Dallin’s reaction to his experience is enlightening:
“I consider that my ‘angel Moroni’ brought me nearer to God than anything I ever did. It seemed to me that I came to know what it means to commune with angels from heaven.”
(Levi Edgar Young, “The Angel Moroni and Cyrus Dallin,” Improvement Era, Apr. 1953, 234 as quoted)
OTHER SCULPTORS & ANGELS:
Today, nearly every Latter-day Saint temple includes an Angel Moroni statue. Since Cyrus Dallin, other significant sculptors have been involved in designing the statues:
LA Moroni - click to enlarge
1. Millard F. Malin created the 2nd Angel Moroni Statue, placed on the Los Angeles California Temple in 1953 (dedicated 1956) . His angel was cast in aluminum, and stands 4.7 meters high and weighs 953 kilograms. It has Native American features, wears a Mayan style cloak and holds the gold plates in his left hand. You can read a fascinating trivia article about this statue at Keepapitchin entitled “Angel Moroni’s Secret“.
2. Avard Fairbanks sculpted the third Angel Moroni statue which was placed on the Washington D.C. Temple, dedicated in 1974.
DC Moroni -click to enlarge
This angel was created as a one-meter model which was sent to Italy where it was enlarged, cast in bronze, and gilded. The finished statue is 5.5 meters high and weighs over 4,000 pounds (1814 kg). The Seattle Washington, Jordan River Utah, and Mexico City Mexico Temples each have a 4.6 meter casting of this statue.
Hill Comorah Monument
3. Torlief Knaphus is most famous for creating the Hill Cumorah Monument - [another Moroni statue] which stands atop the historic LDS site believed to be the location where Joseph Smith received the ancient Book of Mormon records [golden plates] from the angel Moroni. Torlief created another Moroni statue design which was eventually used for the Idaho Falls, Atlanta Georgia, and Boston Temples.
4. Karl Quilter studied under Avard Fairbanks, and sculpted his first Angel Moroni in 1978. Two sizes were made, one 3 meters high, the other just over 2 meters.
Quilter
These statues were designed to reduce the cost and weight of the previous Angel Moroni statues, in order to become a standard part of the temple architecture. These angels are made of fiberglass and covered with gold leaf. In 1998 with the construction of many new smaller temples, Quilter was commissioned to create a new angel. This angel was similar in design to his previous angels, but he gave Moroni a slightly more massive build, his left hand is opened, and his body is turned slightly showing more action. The photo attached is a 1998 design found on the Bern Switzerland Temple 2005 replacement Moroni. Quilter’s Angel Moroni design is found on well over one hundred (100) temples around the world. (J. Michael Hunter, “‘I Saw Another Angel Fly’,” Liahona, Aug. 2000, p. 12.)
FACING EAST or WEST?
The Angel Moroni statues are traditionally turned to face East, to herald the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. However, a handful of angel Moroni statues face West due to the orientation of the lots and the placement of the spires (or towers). These are the Seattle Washington Temple, Spokane Washington Temple, Nauvoo Illinois Temple, and Taipei Taiwan Temple
THE WHITE ANGEL EXPERIMENT
Photo shared by Jeff & Penny Richards
The Monticello Utah Temple is the only temple to have had a white angel Moroni. President Gordon B. Hinckley had envisioned all of the “smaller temples” to have a white enamel angel, however the Monticello experiment proved the white statue was too difficult to see, especially in cloudy weather. It was replaced about a year later by a larger, traditional gold-leafed statue, which remained the standard from then on.
- TEMPLES WITHOUT AN ANGEL
Laie Hawaii Temple
For various reasons, eight (8) current temples do not have an angel Moroni. They are the St. George Utah, Logan Utah, Manti Utah, Laie Hawaii, Cardston Alberta, Mesa Arizona, Hamilton New Zealand, and Oakland California Temples.
ANGEL MORONI and LIGHTNING
The angel atop the newly constructed Oquirrh Mountain Temple was struck and blackened by lightning on June 13, 2009.
Angel Moroni damaged by Lightening 6-13-09
Many people enjoyed poking jabs at this incident, and/or trying to devise some sort of “sign from God” theory. However, the plain and simple fact is that being the highest point on a very tall building, all Angel Moroni statues are frequently hit by lightning. They each include a lightening rod to protect the building, which emerges from the top of the statues head, and they also include special varnish to protect against extreme weather.
It appears that this particular angel suffered from a fluke strike which bounced and caused scorching:
“The original Angel Moroni statue suffered damage when the June 13, 2009 bolt hit the lightning rod on its head and arced beyond that point.” – Deseret News Mormon Times
The poor damaged Moroni was replaced successfully. The new one included an extra lightening rod, for extra protection.
ANGEL MORONI and EARTHQUAKES:
The trumpets of the angel Moroni statues have been launched right out of Moroni’s grasp during earthquakes near the Santiago Chile Temple, Tokyo Japan Temple, and Apia Samoa Temple [see these Temple facts]
HOW MANY ANGEL MORONI STATUES?:
As of this publication date there are 130 Operating Temples, 8 Under Construction and 13 Announced – (click this link for monthly update). As stated above, 8 temples do not have an angel Moroni statue. That adds up to a lot of angel Moroni statues!
PLACING AN ANGEL:
The event of an angel Moroni being placed upon the top of a new temple is always a very exciting celebration.
VIDEO: The Helsinki Finland Temple Thursday, October 13, 2005.
Each Angel Moroni is a special symbol to the Latter-day Saints. They are a reminder of the miraculous and holy circumstances which surround founding events of the church, and a declaration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being available and declared to all nations of the earth.
I always welcome your comments: ”don’t be mean, and keep it clean“! – MoSop
Tags: angels, Art, Book of Mormon, Finland, LDS Church, mormon, mormonism, Moroni, Religion, statues, temples, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, trivia
Great article. Some points that could have been added include: 1) Which is the largests angel in weight and height. 2) Name of a chapel with an angel moroni on the steeple. 3)Which temples did not have an angel on them originally? I wish that you would have done this sooner so that I could have used the material in a youth conference presentation that I made last summer at the Washington DC Temple Visitors Center about how the Washington DC temple angel Moroni was different that other temples.
Excellent Article!
Here is a link to the LDS Church New Article about the Angel Moroni on the Mount Timpanogos Temple being replaced because it was discolored by lightning also – New angel statue installed – 9/14/2002
An Angel Moroni statue adorned the top of the original Washington, D.C. Chapel.
From artist Al Rounds’ website:
The Washington, D.C. Chapel was built in the 1930s and served as the meetinghouse for many LDS members working in the U.S. government. [Ezra Taft Benson, future Secretary of Agriculture and future Church president became the first stake president.] It was sold in 1975, but the angel Moroni and other artifacts from it are now displayed in the Museum of Church History in Salt Lake City.
Thanks everyone for your great comments!
@Douglas – Sorry I didn’t accomodate you sooner, but glad you took the time to read!
@Jake – thanks for sharing that! I don’t recall hearing about the Mt. Timp angel. It’s a bit odd that neither DesNews nor Mormon Times mentioned the prior angel being damaged by lightening when the Oquirrh Mt. angel was getting so much publicity.
@ MormonBlogger – You are correct! That was a great tidbit I left off the article. My father used to attend the LDS chapel in Washington DC with the angel, and has many fond memories of his time there. The members were so proud of that unique chapel, and it was a marvelous missionary tool. He says that they had non-Mormon visitors to the chapel every single week. People would be so curious, or impressed with the gold angel statue they would walk in, and then stay for the meetings.
I am writing a personal history for my grandchildren. I am looking for pictures of the inside of the old DC chapel. If anyone has any, please let me know. Thanks.
There’s one angle Moroni statue you’ve missed. At least the only one I know about. Possibly because it is no longer in place. The Old Washington DC Ward building, sold by the church in the 1970′s, once had a Moroni statue on its spire. I think it was a smaller replica of the Salt Lake Temple’s statue. In 1971 when my family visited DC, we visited this chapel and I saw the statue myself. In the late 1970′s the statue was briefly on display in the DC temple visitors center and I understand it is currently in the chruch museum west of Temple Square. Just thought you’d like to know.
Thanks,
Rick
Rick – You are correct. see prior comments.
So interesting! Seeing the angel Moroni up close before it is raised to the top of the temple is a very neat experience. I would recommend it to anyone.
This was beautiful. I am post mormon, but I feel like I need an update occasionally. This must be a very emotional experience when seen in person. The close ups at the end, and the music by the taberbacle choir just added to everything.
“Lightning” is spelled incorrectly throughout the article ANGEL MORONI and LIGHTENING.
Thanks John, The spelling errors have been corrected!
Thank you so much for the great article. It had some information that I was looking for. I am related to Karl Quilter. (My great-grandmother was a Quilter.) I had heard about Karl and something about the angel Moroni. Thank you for clarifying it for me. I greatly appreciate it!!!
Brenda – that’s awesome! Glad you enjoyed the post