I have fond memories of that building. It had character.

...last summer lightening strikes the new temple and BBQ'ing the Angel Moron-I, the Samoan temple burned to the ground, and now this. Its almost like God hates the moron church.

What a shame! That was a really cool, old building.

Makes you wonder, though, why it was never retrofitted for fire suppression.

Shoudnt that be something a prophet would have a revalation about?

KSL's story said that BYU was in there filming a concert last night, and one person said that they could smell something "hot like a glue gun" and figured it was just their equipment.

That would be a shame if they did something stupid and burned it down. I used to go to Stake Conference there.

The spirit of god take a fire was burning.

If only it had been draped in garments...

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=13693318

About five minutes in they show footage that was shot at some point inside the building before the fire. There are people carrying crosses, a figurine of the Virgin Mary, and Jesus on the cross. What are they doing? Anyone know what that was about?

I think this fire is a pretty sad event. No matter what the building was for, it's always sad to see history burn, especially when it's one of the oldest buildings in the state.

can't remember if it was for Christmas masses or what. I recognize the priest shown in the footage, but I can't remember his name.

no, its just a test of the members faithfulness, obviously, thats all.

time and money to build it back up again.

lol!

As it is, the Mormon church hardly has any beautiful buildings, and the Provo tabernacle reminded me of a real church.

But yeah, if this had been a historical building belonging to the Catholics, Mormons would be whispering to each other that it's some sort of righteous retribution. When their own buildings get damaged, nary a word is said.

Sad. We used to skateboard on the property and get chased off. I really liked the style of that building.

It's funny how many quirks of Mormondom come through in posts like this (aka "praying for moisture") Ha ha ha.

Is it just me or did anyoone else's Gaydar go off listening to Lex de Azevedo talk?

Isn't this the 3rd or 4th temple recently, to burn down? And all of them happened to be temples built before the codes required sprinklers?

How much insurance was on each one? And how recently were the policies updated/coverages increased?

What is the deal here. I am not buying that these are all accidents or caused by disgruntled ex members. But what would the church have to gain since they are self insured? Besides emotional sympathy an rekindling a sense of persecution in the local congregations, which could lead to increased loyalty and donations.

The tabernacle is a nice old building

that building really did have a lot of character, and it's sad to lose the craftsmanship that went into it.

As an aside, we used to have our stake conferences there, and I had my first hangover at age 14 at SC in that building.

I'm puzzled though as the "fire insurance" (i.e. tithing blessing) didn't seem to apply to the tabernacle.

Many peoples' fond memories kind of went up in smoke.

Bummer.

ST