MANTI, Utah — A team of art restorers spent four months in the rooms of the Manti Utah Temple to help clean and, where needed, repair the murals in the historic house of the Lord.
It’s “a very meticulous, very careful, very detailed process — literally an inch at a time,” said Emily Utt, Church historic sites curator, during the Manti Utah Temple media day interviews in March. The team from Preservation and Recovery of Masterpieces of Art, or PARMA Conservation, in Chicago, Illinois, removed varnish finishes that had collected dirt and dust and also previous attempts at repairs.
The Manti Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was rededicated on Sunday, April 21, after being closed for more than two years for renovation. The house of the Lord was originally dedicated in 1888. It has been added onto several times over the years, and it was rededicated in 1985 after an extensive addition and renovation. At that time, the ordinance rooms were refurbished, an elevator was added to the east of the celestial room, a separate baptistry entrance was added, and the rooms surrounding the font were converted into sealing rooms.
The recent renovation included work to stop water seeping into the east wall by excavating down to the footings and waterproofing the area. Other upgrades included creating a bridal exit and place for wedding groups to gather, a new marriage waiting room, updates to mechanical systems and installing projectors and screens for the audiovisual presentation of the endowment.
“We needed to care for the murals,” said Emiline Twitchell, Church History Department conservator over the project for the Church of Jesus Christ, in a report published on ChurchofJesusChrist.org on April 21. “To extend the lifespan of these murals means we preserve a symbolic entry point into new understandings of our temple worship, theology and relationship with the divine.”
The PARMA team’s challenges included removing the wrong type of clearcoat that was applied decades ago and that had chemically bonded to the painting underneath.
“We had to do a lot of testing to see what kinds of solvents would remove the varnish layer, which was hardening and cracking and discoloring the painting. It really makes it hard to reverse,” said Twitchell.
The conservators estimated that the window to reverse the damage was nearly closed.
“It was at the point that nobody would have been able to take it off at all,” said Elizabeth Kendall, owner and co-director of PARMA Conservation. “So, the murals would have been stuck as they are, and nobody would have been able to get to the original.”
In the temple endowment, Church members learn more about the plan of salvation and make several sacred covenants. Events that are part of the plan of salvation are presented, including the Creation of the world, the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the Apostasy and the Restoration.
In the 74,792-square-foot Manti Utah Temple, members progress through a series of rooms during the endowment, and in each room, murals were painted on the walls to help illustrate what is taught in the room. (In other temples, depending on the design, people may stay in the same room for the endowment instruction or change rooms once.)
Creation room
The murals in the creation room are the only ones that date back to the 19th century and are original to the temple. C.C.A. Christensen, originally from Denmark, depicted the Creation by showing the different periods, including dividing the water and the land, plants and animals. The murals are painted on the plaster walls.
Christensen studied painting at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. He joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denmark and then came west. He later taught art and Danish at Snow College.
“He had to visualize and conceptualize something that was only read about,” Utt said about the murals that were completed in 1886. He also took advantage of the world’s latest discoveries, which included fossils and dinosaur bones.
Some of his design inspiration for some of the creatures in the murals is from “The World Before the Deluge” by Louis Figuier — a book that explored the discovery of dinosaurs with what was known at the time.
“He is taking the very best of his personal experience with faith and combining with the latest scientific discoveries and study and analysis and coming up with the depiction of the creation of the world that is brand new and unusual,” Utt said.
It was in this room that the conservators spent most of their time, going square inch by square inch to clean and repair the murals, Utt said.
Utt said that the team cleaned off more than “130 years of gunk.” There she could see his skill as an artist “coming back to life.”
For the conservators, the creation room was the biggest challenge “because it had all the layers of former restorations on it,” Kendall noted.
“We found at least four different types of over paint, as well as a coating that is very challenging to get off. He was an exceptional artist, and people didn’t see that until we took off all the other renovations that had occurred over the decades.”
For Utt, “The biggest thrill of this project, for me, was getting to meet C.C.A. Christensen in a way that I never got to.” During the tour on March 11, she pointed out a small bird in a tree that had been uncovered during the meticulous cleaning.
Garden room
The original murals for the garden room representing the Garden of Eden, were also painted on the plaster walls by Danquart “Dan” Anthon Weggeland.
“Then the plaster was so damaged over the years and, in the 1930s, his mural was removed,” Utt said. The walls were blank for a period until new murals were commissioned for the room in the 1940s, this time on canvas applied to the walls.
Joseph Everett began the new murals and completed the front wall but then died. Robert L. Shepherd, who did the art in the baptistry, completed the murals using a similar style and color palette.
Everett and Shepherd were “two great mural artists in the Church in that period,” Utt said.
Peter Schoenmann, co-director of PARMA Conservation, noted on ChurchofJesusChrist.org that the sailcloth canvas on the walls presented challenges, too.
“The plaster wall itself is what cracks,” said Schoenmann. “Then it transposes and transfers to the canvas and the canvas splits. We have to be surgical in everything we do to make a crack repair look invisible or disappear.”
In fixing cracks, Kendall said, “We use teeny tiny brushes, even on cracks that are large. … We only paint precisely where the crack is.”
World room
Artist Minerva Teichert was commissioned to create murals for the world room after the plaster was replaced in 1946. She did the painting in 23 working days throughout April and May 1947 — while the temple was still in operation, pausing when sessions came through.
“She is another example of another Latter-day Saint who consecrated her time and talents to the house of the Lord,” Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson said during the media day tours..
In the back of the room, is a representation of the Tower of Babel — and the scattering of people. Moving through the mural, it represents the gathering.
“And that’s really what this is about, as we’ve ascended from the fall and on the path back to our heavenly home,” President Johnson said.
One side of the room depicts the scripture stories of Abraham, Sariah and Lot leaving with their sheep trailing behind them, Joseph being sold into Egypt and Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, and also pilgrims sailing with the Bible. The other side includes people representing many nations and cultures, including Christopher Columbus preparing to set sail, with movement going towards the front of the room. Along the wall in the foreground are people in shadow, who are reaching out for help.
“It is a great pageant, 120 people marching by in grand review … every one requiring infinite attention,” President Johnson quoted Teichert about the murals.
At the front of the room is a Native American chief, looking at the room with his arms out, welcoming to Zion, and above him is an aerial view of Manti, with the farmland and the temple on the hill. The chief is the only one facing into the room.
For Utt, it’s a reminder that “the only place we will find peace is as we come to Him” and all are invited to come.
President Johnson said, “Minerva Teichert’s painted figures required infinite attention from an artist. Each one of us requires infinite and intimate attention, which is afforded to us by Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God. So today we celebrate the open house of a holy place, the house of the Lord here in Manti.”
Kendall said that the world mural was in such good condition that only cleaning had to be done. But because of the sheer size of the wall paintings, a lot of cleaning was needed, she added.
Baptistry
Shepherd, who finished the garden room, did the murals in the baptistry of which include depictions of Jesus’ baptism, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery’s baptism, and ancient world baptisms. Four panels of scriptures were added during the 1982 renovation.
The plaster was separating from the walls and damaging the canvas, Utt said. The murals were carefully removed and sent for conservation to Chicago, where the PARMA Conservation team cleaned and repaired them. The walls were replastered and art reinstalled.
In the baptistry is where Latter-day Saints perform proxy baptisms for ancestors who were not previously baptized.
Preserved for generations
Both Kendall and Schoenmann said it was a privilege to work on the temple murals.
Kendall said, “We’ve uncovered something that’s been covered for decades and decades.”
Schoenmann said, “These murals serve a purpose for Latter-day Saints. We hope that they stay preserved for many, many more generations. … We feel privileged to have seen them and cared for them.”
