During the open house of the temple, I was assigned to the facilities crew for one evening to clean after the day's tours. Following the vacuuming and polishing, 4 of us got to tour the temple with the security guard at 1am. He told us all these fun facts about the temple. Recording them here:
o the walls near the creation room have large panel paintings of trees that were taken from the mural at the Draper temple which was made too large.
o In the creation room, there are animals painted all over the murals. However, you have to look closely to see them. Unlike the Draper temple where the animals are prominently featured, the artist for the Oquirrh temple wanted the animals to be hidden in the background and for the scenery to stand out instead.
o the chandelier in the celestial room is 15.5 foot long and contains 15000 crystals. All of the chandeliers were done by one man who had his wife and kids help him thread on all the crystals. He wanted only his family to handle the crystal hanging for the temple chandeliers.
o the windows in the celestial room have stars sculpted into them. The lowest windows have the fewest stars. There are more stars in the middle windows and even more stars in the top windows. This symbolizes the kingdoms of heaven.
o the chairs in the celestial room tilt back slightly so you can ponder the ceiling without creaking your neck back.
o the overlapping rings on the celestial room ceiling symbolize eternal families. This overlapping circle theme is in other rooms of the temple also.
o the delicate pattern on the walls of the celestial room that appear to be wallpaper are actually individually stenciled on.
o in the room where non-patrons wait for sealings to be completed, there are more chairs that tilt slightly. These chairs cost $4500 EACH. The other chairs in that room are a mere $894 each. (it may seem wasteful to spend a lot on chairs, but some of the chairs in the sealing rooms had to be replaced just following all the traffic from the open house because the material was starting to fray. So, my guess is that it's decided it's worth the cost to get highly durable and comfortable chairs.)
o the tile is travertine but some of of them are hollow, which is not the quality that was ordered. So, after the open house closed and before it's dedicated the company that did the tiling will change out the tiles with ones that are not hollow. The security team sat on rolling chairs and tapped on each individual tile to see which ones were hollow. Some are cracking already from the wear of the open house.
o the oxen under the baptismal font can be accessed through a trap door in the utility area. the oxen are made of fiberglass and each one is unique. They have different noses, horns, eyes and other features.
o in the baptismal font, there is a painting of the Savior being baptised by John the Baptist. It is reflected in the glass across the font and makes it look like a hologram in the glass. If you're in the font, it looks like the Savior is in the font with you. If you sit on the bench under the painting and look at the reflection in the glass, it looks like the Savior is laying his hands upon your head.
o in the hallway separating the sealing rooms, you can look up into the glass of the ceiling lights and see the base of the angel Moroni.
o also in that hallway there is a large glass window separating 2 areas of the hall. On one side of the window is a large portrait of the Savior. On the other side of the window you can see a miniature reflection of the painting in each of the little circular details around the large window.
o Originally the windows in the chapel were going to be left plain. After the First Presidency visited, it was decided that they would be frosted. That will take place before the dedication and after the open house is completed.
o When the First Presidency visited the temple, President Uchdorf rearranged the furniture in the bridal room.
o This temple was especially lavish and expensive. The First Presidency declared that future temples will not be so lavish.
o There is a button at the security desk of the temple that connects directly to the SLC temple in case of emergency. The security guard says that the SL security team would be able to arrive at the temple more quickly than the city employees.
o the grounds immediately surrounding the temple are gated. But, on the front, there are columns. To protect the temple, these are made to withstand a car driving directly at them at 65 mph.
o if you stand in front of the fountain outside the temple, you can see the Salt Lake, Draper and Jordan River temples.
Information on the purpose of temples, what it's like inside the temples and the differences between a temple and a meetinghouse, can be found here:
http://www.lds.org/temples/faq/0,11264,1904-1,00.html
