the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...

, a tabernacle is a multipurpose religious building, used for church services and conferences, and as community centers. Tabernacles were typically built as endeavors of multiple congregations (termed wards or branches), usually at the

stake Stake may refer to: Entertainment * '' Stake: Fortune Fighters'', a 2003 video game * ''The Stake'', a 1915 silent short film * "The Stake", a 1977 song by The Steve Miller Band from '' Book of Dreams'' * ''Stakes'' (miniseries), a Cartoon Netw ...

level. They differ from meetinghouses in scale and differ from

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

in purpose. There were 79 total tabernacles built during the mid-to-late nineteenth and early twentieth century, usually within areas of the Mormon Corridor near the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

in North America that had predominantly

Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into sever ...

populations.McArthur, A. J., & Wrobel, D. (2005). ''The buildings at the center: Latter-Day Saint tabernacles in the Mormon culture region''. Thesis (M.A.)—University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2005

/ref> The largest such tabernacle is in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

on Temple Square. The last tabernacle commissioned by the church was the Ogden Stake Tabernacle, built in the 1950s. While some tabernacles are still used for a few ecclesiastical and community cultural activities, stake centers are now normally used in their place. Many tabernacles have been demolished, sold, or renovated, with two repurposed into temples ( Vernal Utah Temple,

Provo City Center Temple The Provo City Center Temple. is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) on the same site as the former Provo Tabernacle in Provo, Utah. Completed in 2016, the temple utilizes much of the external shell of th ...

). Prior to 2000, the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square was used twice a year for the church's general conferences. In April 2000, the conferences moved one block north to the

Conference Center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typical ...

References

External links

* {{LDS-stub