Temple impact reaches far

In all of American history, there has never been a building quite like the Nauvoo Temple. As an architectural achievement, as a cultural icon, as a religious centerpiece, it has a significance that stretches far beyond the LDS faith.

That's the message filmmaker Lee Groberg, writer Heidi Swinton and cinematographer Mark Goodman hope to convey in a documentary they're producing for public television to be released this fall. Titled "Sacred Stone: Temple on the Mississippi," the film will be a companion piece to the "Trail of Hope" and "American Prophet" documentaries also produced by the group and shown on PBS in recent years.

"This piece connects the other two," Swinton said. "The story of Joseph Smith ended with him taking one last look at the temple before going off to Carthage, and the story of the pioneers going west started with them crossing the river and stopping for one last look back at the temple."

Media and VIP tours of the temple will be held Wednesday in Nauvoo. The open house for the general public begins Monday, continuing through June 22. The temple will be dedicated June 27.

So, what is this building that plays such a central role in those stories? Built in the early 1840s on a high bluff overlooking the east side of the Mississippi River, the Nauvoo Temple was constructed in a classic style of limestone quarried in the area. It was built during a time of increasing tension and violence between the saints and their Illinois neighbors. It took five years to complete and was only used for six weeks before being abandoned. It was eventually destroyed, first by fire and then by tornado.

And now, all these years later, it is being meticulously re-created.

There's no question, said Swinton, "that the temple was an expression of the faith and the devotion and the resilience of the builders." Throughout the documentary project, she said, she often thought of the words of Sarah Rich, written in a journal on the Iowa plains. "Sarah talks about how if it had not been for the knowledge and blessings they received in the Nauvoo Temple, the journey west would have been a giant leap in the dark; that she would have felt like she was walking into the jaws of death."

And in a larger sense, said Swinton, the story of the temple is the story of a journey. "It tells of a people grasping their significance in the overall scheme of things, of having eyes to see beyond the typical."

That speaks to the heart and soul of America, she said. "It is an experience that was replicated in other communities in other ways, but it is central to the whole westward movement."