Salt Lake City - More

While I was in Salt Lake City in February, I toured the Conference Center. 

Seating 21,000 people this "architecturally unique building boasts 1.5 million total square feet, including the four-level parking structure with space for 1,300 vehicles. Contractors used an estimated 116,000 total cubic yards of concrete for the construction of the building. If one cubic yard of concrete was stacked on top of another, there would be a column of concrete 66 miles high. The Conference Center also has 50,000 miles of electrical wiring, enough to circle the earth twice.

"A prominent component of the makeup of the building is the giant king truss, which provides the main support for the building. The king truss, which was shipped from Belgium, weighs nearly 620 tons and is 150 feet long, 32 feet high and 4 feet thick. The architects designed the Conference Center in a way that all visitors could have a clear and unobstructed view of the pulpit from anywhere in the auditorium. Since this was the goal, multiple beams could not be used to construct the Conference Center. Instead, the king truss solved the problem and carries the entire weight of the building without obstructing anyone’s view." source

Click here to read about the organ in the Conference Center. 

 General conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is held here twice a year. Many community events also take place in the Conference Center.

When I was there the stage was in between configurations. You can see the vast storage areas "under" the rostrum configuration. Read about it at the end of the article here. Click here for images of the Conference Center.

The Conference Center houses a vast collection of art. This is one of Joe's favorite works - Stained glass version of Carl Bloch's "Healing the Sick at Bethesda" based on John 5.

Arthur Friberg created a series of paintings depicting stories in the Book of Mormon

Tree of Life  

This huge mural depicts the appearance of Christ in the New World

Many of the pieces celebrate family

Church History Library

"Behold, there shall be a record kept among you.." Doctrine and Covenants 21: 1

I met with a church archivist about the Bahamas collection. Below - Bahamas materials ready to be processed. Click here to read more.

Part of every trip to Salt Lake City is research at the FamilySearch Center (below) or the Family History Library. So many people and stories to be found :) 

I'll end with a picture in MichaelT's memory. I went to Crown Burger; it was one of Michael's favorite places to eat. They are known for their fry sauce. Their signature sandwich is a cheeseburger with Pastrami and all the fixings. Fortunately there's a junior size. It's delicious. This one's for you Michael!

Click on the "Utah" label to the right for more posts about this trip