The LDS temple in Manhattan was dedicated just a few years ago. It's really interesting, compared with other LDS temples, because it was built in a building that was already occupied by church offices and a chapel. The LDS concept of the temple has a lot to do with the sense of the place itself, and the idea that that place is sacred--isolated and fortified against the world. When you combine that with the realities of a vertical urban jungle like NYC, you get something very strange--a temple that occupies only the upper floors of an otherwise 'worldly' building. For me, at least, it's almost as if the 'temple' itself were floating in the city, since the building as a whole doesn't have that same sense of sacred isolation connected with it. That's a weird thought to wrap around the mind of someone who's not used to the vertical life!
2007-08-12 20:36:39 • 1 Comments • Categories: [Cityscape/Architecture]  [Mormon Culture]  chapels cities LDS_Church Manhattan_temple New_York_city streets temples traffic
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