Brick Book of Mormon

Brendan Powell Smith of Brick Testament fame has announced a new project, the Brick Book of Mormon. You can read more here, but it looks like he is just in the planning stages at this point. No estimated time when this will result in fully illustrated stories. I'm looking forward to seeing his take.

Salt Lake Temple

David Jungheim built this version of the Salt Lake Temple. The real structure on Temple Square in Salt Lake City was dedicated in 1893 and is the center of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Salt Lake Temple

This version of the Salt Lake Temple was made by a family and is on display in their bishop's office.

Salt Lake City Temple

This replica of the Salt Lake City Temple by Dave is on display in Springville, Utah.

LDS Temples

Andrew Johnson has built a series of LDS Temples, including the Washington DC, Nauvoo, and Denver temples.

Bountiful Utah Temple

Samuel Mirejovsky was asked to make a Mormon temple in LEGO form to help out with a children's class. The teacher was expecting some small creation, but he took the suggestion and ran with it, coming up with this 4ft by 4ft rendition of the Bountiful Utah Temple.

Mount Timpanogos Temple

I've always loved religious architecture. My favorites are the gothic cathedrals from medieval Europe, and there are also many amazing mosques. In recent days, however, the Latter Day Saints are surely making some of the most beautiful houses of worship. A great example is Mount Timpanogos Temple in American Fork, Utah, here in LEGO by Ben Watson.

COB

Just after posting the Salt Lake Temple, the spiritual heart of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I also found another building from Temple Square in Salt Lake City by another builder, StevePoulsen. The Church Office Building is the administrative heart of the Mormon organization, helping coordinate their ministries all around the world.

Salt Lake Temple

Central Salt Lake City is dominated by the Salt Lake Temple (here built by Xarquar), which is the largest Temple of the LDS and also home to the President and the Quorum of the Twelve, the leaders of the church.

Nauvoo Temple

After Joseph Smith and his followers left Kirtland, Ohio, they settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, where they built the Nauvoo Temple. Facing persecution, they left only a few years later, ultimately to arrive in Utah, so the original Nauvoo Temple was not used extensively. Damaged by tornado and fire, it was later demolished. In recent years, the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints has built a replica on the site. This LEGO replica was built by the "grandson of LDS sculptor Avard Fairbanks", though I don't know the name of the builder.

Welcome back, Nathan

In 1974, Spencer Kimball, prophet of the LDS church, called for young men to take up a mission to spread the word of Christ and the continuing revelation of the Book of Mormon. Today, over 50,000 young men and women are in the field each year for their two-year mission. Among them was AFOL and my fellow blogger over on MinilandBricks, Nathan Cunningham, who recently returned from his mission. A while ago, Bruce Lowell made this missionary, which seemed an appropriate model to put here. Missionaries travel in pairs, but Bruce only had one of those minifig torsos.

Brick of Mormon

Steven Van Wagenen was looking for a creative way to teach his sons his faith and came up with re-enacting stories in LEGO form. The idea took off, and he and his sons produced the Brick of Mormon, a 200 page LEGO illustrated book of stories from the Book of Mormon. Follow that link to the site where you can see examples and purchase a copy for yourself.

The heavens declare the glory of God

The Pillars of Creation is a photo of a portion of the Eagle Nebula where new stars are being formed. It is also a LEGO mosaic by Brandon Button. Why include it here? Let's look to Brandon's motivation in choosing his subject matter, as reported in an article in the Mormon Times:

Button also says he was struck by the connection to the gospel the "Pillars of Creation" photograph seem to represent.
The three "Pillars of the Gospel" are the Creation, the Fall and the Atonement. In the temple, intimate details of the Creation and the Fall are revealed. The need for the Atonement is made very clear. In the temple, a grander perspective of the Plan of Salvation is presented.
He says that through this photograph, "we can realize and feel God's love for us in a more personal way and on a broader scale." To Button, this photograph shows order and purpose to the universe, and is evidence that our own existence is not accidental.

Sadly, this is the only photo I can find of the mosaic. Photo credit goes to John Evans of the Mormon Times. Hopefully Brandon, the builder, will post photos of this to one of the photo sharing sites LEGO hobbyists tend to use - he mentions in the article that he got the mosaic software from Lugnet, a major LEGO hobby website, so he has some connection to the fan community.

Nauvoo Temple

Yesterday I mentioned the Nauvoo Temple. I went looking online to find who built the larger model you can see the edge of in yesterday's post, and I found this much smaller version. The creator of this MOC (My Own Creation - any original LEGO design) has made three kits for sale on CraigsList.



He has several suggestions for their use:

*Build it as a family and discuss its history, its importance, your feelings, why we build temples. You can put it together in less than 30 min.
*Use it as a reminder to attend. Each time you go build one step. Over the weeks see your progress.
*Start 15 weeks before a family member goes for the 1st time and build a step each week.
*Parents can use in church as a quiet activity.
*Build it and display it.
*Use as a cake decoration.

I certainly appreciate using LEGO to connect kids with their religious heritage (I've previously blogged a similar idea for Jewish kids), and I also appreciate the enterprising nature of the original builder. As a LEGO builder I like how he did the triple archway in the front - good parts usage there.

The Nauvoo Temple itself was the second Temple built by Joseph Smith and his followers after they left Kirtland. It was destroyed by fire and tornado later after they moved from Illinois, but the modern LDS Church has built a replica on the site of the original.

BrickFair

BrickFair is an annual gathering of LEGO fans near Washington, DC, which happened a couple of weeks ago. In addition to making friends and having a good time, one of the highlights is a huge public display, with all kinds of LEGO creations by these different builders. In looking through photos of this display I saw this collection of religiously-themed creations. I actually used to live in the DC area, so I immediately recognized the small-scale model of the Mormon Temple, as I used to drive past it daily on the 495. You can also see a nativity set, a scene from the Garden of Eden, a Christmas creation, and the edge of another Mormon structure, the Nauvoo Temple. I don't know who built each of these, so if anyone who was at BrickFair could leave comments filling in the details I would appreciate it.

Kirtland Temple

The Kirtland Temple (here recreated in LEGO by Arthur Gugick) was the first temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This was built in Kirtland, Ohio, in the 1830's under the direction of Joseph Smith. Soon thereafter, though, economic problems and dissension in the church led Joseph Smith to move with his followers to Missouri and then Illinois. After Smith's death his followers moved to Utah, which is now the home of the LDS Church. Today the Kirtland Temple is operated by the Community of Christ, the descendants of an offshoot of Smith's original church, but members of all LDS traditions honor the church as an important historical landmark of their faith.

LDS Vignettes

A vignette, or vig, is a small LEGO creation illustrating a scene, ususally with a size constraint. Nathan Cunningham made a series of vigs illustrating stories from the Book of Mormon, such as this from 3 Nephi (?) showing darkness and suffering in the Americas after the death of Christ. "Yea, great were the groanings of the people, because of the darkness and great destruction which had come upon them."