Salt Lake Temple marks milestone with reinstallation of east temple doors

The historic east doors of the Salt Lake Temple were reinstalled Tuesday morning, marking a major milestone in the nearly six-year renovation of the iconic Mormon structure. Each 580-pound, 12-foot-tall door, crafted in 1892 and featuring distinctive circular designs representing "House of the Lord," required eight workers to hoist into place during a three-hour installation that began at 6 a.m.

The doors underwent extensive restoration after their careful removal in February 2020, with five companies spending more than 3,500 hours on the work in a climate-controlled warehouse. The east doors, traditionally attributed to Danish immigrant carpenter Herman August Thorup and designed following input from church President Wilford Woodruff, have been central to temple ceremonies for generations, appearing in countless photographs of couples sealed in the sanctuary since the temple's 1893 dedication.