On my noteworthy trip to Iowa I was able to spend some time in Illinois, not long, but long enough to catch a few sights other than corn. Oh, spoiler alert! There's corn in Illinois.
A number of locals pointed out the steeple of the church on the horizon across the Mississippi River or just plainly asked if I had seen it yet. Considering I stopped for some fermented grapes just a couple miles up the road, Heather and I figured it would be a great opportunity to pause to take a long gander at and enjoy some grandiose architecture inspired by the strongest super-power of them all, you guessed it, blind faith.
“Y'all make it to see the Mormon church yet? It's pretty nice to look at.” - Somebody in Iowa
It really was magnificent. As we pulled up the size of the building became "a thing". Like meeting Andre The Giant or walking onto a professional baseball field for the first time. Fortunately there was a parking lot designated for church-goers which left the street as empty as my bank account in college. I parked just out of perfect picture range and snapped a few angles of the building and surrounding grounds (detailed in a separate post) before stopping and just gazing...across the perfectly manicured grass, over the Mississippi River to Fort Madison, Iowa.
The building itself had some pretty interesting architectural features. I'm not familiar with the symbolism typically used by the Church of Latter-Day Saints, but it certainly was beautiful. Pseudo-columns lining the front of the building, seemingly reaching for the stars. Fittingly, atop them are Suns, shining with unbounded radiance upon the horizon. All windows and doorways were arched except for the actual doors to enter the building, probably a "code" thing. Just under the eaves, approximately 3/4 of the way up, are upside-down stars, or what would have been historically called pentacles. Some confined to the center of a blue stained-glass window, while every other was fashioned with a convex appearance on small raised areas just above the large columns. I'm no architect, but this was a building to behold and the entirety of it looked and felt crisp, sharp and cleaner than the Board of Health.
The Breakdown:
In all honesty, Nauvoo, Illinois initially seems like just another hill, another meadow, another building, another Main Street where out-of-towners only pull over for a much needed tank of gas. The hill the church sits on and the grassy expanse at its entrance have more history than an episode of Ancient Aliens. With the cheese-Mecca that is Baxter's Vineyards & Winery, an unparalleled view of the Ole 'Sipp and the quietest Main Street this side of 1885.
Nauvoo Temple Website
www.lds.org/temples/details/nauvoo-illinois-temple
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