Have you heard that the angel Moroni statue on Mormon temples always faces east? Well, that’s just not quite true.
Using photographs, Brian Olson has analyzed the position of the angel Moroni in relation to the temple. He then used satellite photographs to translate that to a direction on a compass and has created the infographic below showing which direction the statue faces on each temple.
He found that the statues are most frequently placed in a manner that compliments the look of the temple and its surroundings. The majority of the statues do face east, but not all.
Download a larger image at Photogent.com
Totally Awesome! Thanks for the effort and great results, love it!
I was just told that there are some of our LDS temples that are not allowed the Angel Moroni on them. Is that true? I am LDS and would like to know if that is true. My daughter heard that mentioned in her Young Women’s class one Sunday. We live in SD.
Sheral,
Most of the temples have an Angel Moroni, but not all of them.
The following temples do not have an Angel Moroni: Carston Alberta, Hamilton New Zealand, Laie Hawaii, Logan Utah, Manti Utah, Mesa Arizona, Oakland California, and St. George Utah.
Larry
Sheral and Larry,]
The Paris temple, currently under construction, will also not have an angel Moroni. Sometimes, like Paris, this is due to local laws and regulations. Before The Atlanta Temple in 1983, most temples were designed and built without an Angel Moroni. It was the Atlanta Temple that started the tradition of putting the statue on all temples. Since then, some temples designed without the statue have had them added.
The Paris temple is also one of only four temples that do not have any spires. The others are Mesa Arizona, Laie Hawaii, and Cardston Alberta Canada.
Nauvoo had the lying down one.
President Hinckley directed for the Nauvoo angel Moroni to face west to the Salt Lake City angel which faces east
It appears that Saratoga Springs will face West. They just placed it today.