Preserve Our Past

Every day, all over our country, there is mounting evidence that we lack a sense of our past.

1867 Mormon Tabernacle Pews Are Casualties of a Face-Lift
By MARTIN STOLZ
SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 25 — When the historic Tabernacle, the egg-shaped building that is home to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, reopens next year after a lengthy face-lift and seismic retrofit, visitors will find something new: the pews.
The loss of the original, and uncomfortable, pine pews, handmade in 1867 and meticulously etched and painted to look like oak, angers many Mormons, whose religion is strongly defined by its history and its forebears’ hardships.
Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, released a two-sentence statement saying some original pews — Ms. Farah would not say how many — would be returned and that others would be replaced with oak copies “to maintain historicity.” “No determination has been made on what will happen to the unused original benches,” the statement said.
Church officials would not give an explanation for the change, Ms. Farah said in an interview.
“The church is circumspect about the pews, because it is a work in progress,” she said of the Tabernacle renovations, including the pews.