Entry Way and Sitting Area

The materials in this area are Tennessee cherrywood, Finnish curly birch, and Jerusalem limestone. The British, who ruled Jerusalem from 1917 to 1948, mandated the use of local limestone, known as Jerusalem Stone, for all facades. Jersualem Stone is a pinkish-white color, and its hue changes througout the day as the light changes. Jerusalem is somtimes called the City of Gold because the Jerusalem Stone appears to be golden certain times of the day when the sun shines on it. This area is used by peopleto relax or to read scriptures as they wait for ordinance sessions to begin. The area has Bibles and triple combinations in Russian, Finnish, and English as well as some scriptures in Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian. There is no triple combination available in Russian as yet, so these were specially constructed and bound in white for the temple.

You can get some indication of the religious art that decorates the temple from this picture. There are many paintings in the hallways and dressing room areas. Some are copies of paintings by Walter Rane who sometimes paints pictures for Ensign covers and has had his paintings displayed at the LDS Museum of History and Art. I mention him specifically because his son is currently a missionary in the Helsinki Finland mission. I've also noticed some Minerva Teichert reproductions.

One interesting construction note: All the beautiful wood moldings on the walls were computer cut and are attached with industrial strength velcro.