Image: A bronze statue of Apostles Peter, James and John with Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery is removed for the Temple Square renovation in Salt Lake City, Friday, January 10, 2020. © 2020 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

Joseph, Hyrum, and More

Atlas Rigging & Transfer was commissioned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to remove and relocate some of its most precious statues located at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. The move is part of a 4-year renovation project of the Salt Lake Temple and the surrounding temple grounds.

The statues are of early founders of the Church – Joseph Smith, Jr. and Hyrum Smith – and depictions of sacred events. Each of the bronze statues with their base weighes over 18,000 pounds.

Check out the video published by the Church regarding the restoration project:

The Process

The process involved rigging the statues up by hydraulic cranes and onto specialized lifts designed to move extremely heavy equipment. It was especially important to protect the integrity of the statues, their structure, their finish, and their accompanying chiseled stone bases.

The Atlas team is experienced moving and storing heavy museum quality pieces. After moving the statues from their locations, the Bailey’s Moving and Storage team built custom crating around each statue and then transported them to a remote storage facility for safe keeping.

Atlas was honored to be selected to help in these important moves for the Church.

See the related article at the Newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.