SALT LAKE CITY — Work crews removed the Angel Moroni statue and capstone from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' temple in Salt Lake City Monday morning.
"This has long been planned as part of the temple renovation, but the timeline to do so was accelerated following the earthquake in March. The statue and capstone will be preserved and refurbished before being reinstalled at a later date," a statement from Latter-day Saint Church spokesman Daniel Woodruff said.
On March 18, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake shook the Salt Lake Valley, which caused the statue's trumpet to fall off. The earthquake also displaced some of the temple's smaller spire stones.
In January, the Latter-day Saint church began to "decommission" the temple for renovation and a seismic upgrade. The renovation and upgrade project is expected to take four years.
