By Summer Mull
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has grown tremendously since its humble beginnings in 1830.
In the early days, meetings were held in small rooms of humble homes. Today, members of the Church of Jesus Christ enjoy thousands of beautiful buildings of worship.
'Mormon Moderne: New Directions in Latter-day Saint Architecture, 1890-1955' is the new exhibit at the Museum of Art at BYU. It portrays the wide variety of architectural designs and styles used in church buildings from the late 19th to 20th centuries.
A number of architectural changes occurred during this time period, said Paul L. Anderson, architect and curator of the exhibit.
'I think most people who are Latter-day Saints or who have lived in Utah, have seen interesting architecture all around them,' Anderson said. 'This exhibit puts together the history of that so the whole picture fits into an overall pattern in a way people may not have seen before.'
Architectural styles vary tremendously between buildings that were built during this time period, he said. Tastes of Romanesque, Spanish baroque, gothic, classical, art deco and American colonial designs may be seen in a variety of different Church of Jesus Christ buildings, he said.
'The great variety of these structures reflects the church''s wide-ranging search for appropriate new images of itself,' according to the exhibit sign.
The museum has divided the architectural evolutions into five eras and explains the changes and influences of the different eras.
Each section contains various photos and artifacts from the buildings. Pieces include intricately carved walls, leaded windows, chairs, pulpits, models and original designs from various buildings constructed in these time periods.
For example, two stained, leaded glass windows from an old meetinghouse in Davis County are on display at the exhibit. The windows depict the Bible and the Pearl of Great Price surrounded by floral patterns.
The actual meetinghouse contained windows in which all of the standard works of the church were displayed. The building was built in 1910 and shows the influence of modern design on Latter-day Saint architecture, according to the exhibit sign.
The church building committee was organized around 1955, Anderson said. He said a relatively small group of people determined what church buildings would look like.
'In the period from 1890 to 1955 there was much more variety and diversity because there were so many people involved and so many more people making decisions,' Anderson said.
Aaron Johnson, 23, a senior majoring in history from Kingsburg, Calif. said he was excited to see the meetinghouse that his father attended as a child.
'The exhibit is impressive,' he said. 'What is interesting to me is that the speaker at the (Homecoming) Devotional talked about Brigham Young and how he really emphasized architecture and studying architecture.'
The Mormon Moderne exhibit is on display on the lower level of the museum until June 2002.