By Janene Pack
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is conducting the symbolic laying of the cornerstones at the Nauvoo Temple Sunday, Nov. 5, at noon in Nauvoo, Illinois.
“We want to imitate, insofar as possible, what was done at the original cornerstone laying on April 6, 1841,” said President Gordon B. Hinckley of the LDS Church in a recent news release.
The reenactment of the cornerstone ceremony for the Nauvoo temple is significant, said Kim Farah, spokesperson for the LDS Church.
This is because the temple itself is being constructed to look exactly like the original temple built on the same site in Nauvoo, Ill. in the early 1840s, she said.
The reconstruction of the Nauvoo Temple has been in progress for the last several months.
The original temple was completed in 1846, but was destroyed by fire when the Latter-day Saints were driven from Illinois.
Participating in the ceremony will be general authorities of the church, as well as local leaders and women of the church’s Relief Society, according to the news release.
LDS Church officials have declined comment on the details of the ceremony and if President Hinckley would attend.
Four stones will be set in place, one at each corner, Farah said.
There will also be a choir of missionaries from the Nauvoo Mission and another choir composed of LDS Church members from the temple district who will sing hymns from the first hymnal of the church, she said.
The block upon which the temple sits is an active construction site, not yet landscaped as it will be for the dedication services, which will occur sometime in 2002, according to the news release.
For this reason, attendance at the cornerstone ceremony will be limited primarily to those who live in the immediate area.
