A copy of the temple's original architectural plans served as the basis for the reconstruction. Detailed plans for the reconstruction emerged after a committee spent weeks researching journals, historical documents and libraries.

Paul Koelliker, managing director of the church's temple department, said President Hinckley was involved in much of the decisionmaking, down to the color of the carpets and the murals on the walls. Known as a man who loves to swing a hammer and wield a saw, President Hinckley regularly inspects the craftsmanship in the church's new temples.

"In this temple he feels the millwork is the best he has seen," Koelliker said.

The church president donated the painting that hangs behind the recommend desk inside the front doors. The piece, which depicts the "old Nauvoo," was painted in the mid-1920s and was given to President Hinckley's father by a man who lived in Nauvoo, Koelliker said.

One of the few differences between the original exterior and the reconstruction is the Angel Moroni atop the temple. After seeing an early mock-up with the original horizontal angel design, President Hinckley chose an upright angel to represent the forward-looking nature of the church and the temple, said Roger Jackson, a principal with the Salt Lake City architectural firm FFKR.

"The building in a way is a nod to the past, but this is a hallmark of the modern temple," said Jackson, who helped oversee construction.

The Nauvoo Temple will have its own new bell. The Nauvoo Bell, currently located in Salt Lake City's Temple Square, will stay where it is, although there was some talk of sending it to Nauvoo, Jackson said. Some say the Nauvoo Bell was salvaged by fleeing church members in 1846 and hauled to Utah a year later, although no one knows for sure.

A clue to the precision and skill of the temple's original builders came when excavation workers uncovered the original baptismal font's drain. Project manager Ron Prince said he was "awestruck."

"We put a level on those stones, and they were perfectly cut and perfectly square. . . . Then we took them out and put a level on the drain slope and it was the same as you would find on today's drain system."

F. Keith Stepan, managing director of the church's temple construction department, estimates 2,500 people worked on the reconstruction, including 150 volunteers.

Byron Healey of American Fork, whose Ceiling Systems Inc. installed the temple's ceiling tiles and wall panels, typifies many builders' affection for the temple. When a problem with one of the wall panels arose three weeks ago, he was contacted at home and asked to return to Nauvoo for the repair.

It was a Sunday night. He and a partner hopped in Healey's truck and drove until Monday night, "straight through."