The first Angel Moroni sculpted to hold the golden plates in its left arm was designed by Torleif Knapfus for the Hill Cumorah Monument (see #3 above). Sculptor Millard Malin kept Knaphus’ design idea for his unique Los Angeles Temple angel (#1 above), also keeping the plates in Moroni’s left arm; so did Avard Fairbanks (#2), who sculpted the version for the Washington D.C. Temple. (Replicas of Fairbanks’s plate-holding Moroni stand atop the Seattle Washington, Jordan River Utah, and Mexico City Mexico Temples.)

Every Angel Moroni statue is created as a unique work of art designed through inspiration. The choice to depict a Moroni holding the plates seems a perfect tribute to the prophet who sacrificed his entire life to preserve, protect and hide these sacred ancient records – and then to deliver them to Joseph Smith in the 19th Century. Although I do not have all of the details about each angel story, LA and DC angels are mentioned above. The Mexico City temple was the first temple built specifically for the decendents of the Lamanite people of the Book of Mormon, so I think it is especially fitting their angel is holding the golden plates!

“During one of his frequent visits to the temple, President David O. McKay noticed that the angel faced southeast as did the temple. He informed architect Edward O. Anderson “that it was not correct in that position…that the angel must face east.” The angel had generated much conversation among the neighbors, and one indicated, perhaps tongue in cheek, that she “certainly never would be interested [in learning more about the Church] until the angel faced her home.” One morning she awoke to find the statue “was looking directly at her place.” Brother Anderson had followed President McKay’s instructions to turn the angel.” (Temples to Dot the Earth by Richard Cowan, 1997 edition, page 183)

Gosh, my best guess to your question, pre-Googling, would be the L.A. Temple. However, this answer would be wrong. The correct answer is interesting, and really rather obvious if you think about it.

I would love to see your list of temple trivia . Here’s one for ya…

Which temple cornerstone has an actual piece of Walt Disney’s classic Pinocchio?

Suggestion: The article is currently titled “Mormon Triva,” when you probably meant “Trivia.”

Question: Can we pretty safely assume, then, that all the remaining temples not mentioned in the Dallin, Malin, Fairbanks, or Knaphus paragraphs, are adorned by the Quilter version?

Thanks again!

If you walked away from the temple wall, say 100ft and remained on level ground. If you could measure the angle from the ground looking up to the angel you could simply do this calculation: 100ft *(tan (put in measured degrees here)) = how high up the angel Moroni is.

p.s. You’ll want to make sure your calculator is in degree mode, or you’ll get a wrong number. Also, this won’t be exactly right, as the angel Moroni isn’t directly over the East wall, but will give you a good estimate. You could also get a better estimate if you add to the initial 100ft how far in from the outer East wall you think the angel is before multiplying by tangent of the angle.

My son and I were trying to find a site that would tell us how high the Moroni on Temple square was from ground level. Any one know the answer to this?