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By Kent Larsen
Angel Moroni Installed in Museum, Instead of Atop Boston Temple
ARLINGTON, MASSACHUSSETS -- The LDS Church hasn't yet been able to put a
statue of the Angel Moroni sculpted by artist Cyrus E. Dallin on top of the
Boston Temple, but it has been able to put a 29-inch replica in a local
museum. After some controversy, the Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum in Arlington,
Massachussets has accepted the smaller replica as a permanent part of its
exhibits.
Dallin sculpted the original 12 1/2-foot statue that now stands on top of
the Salt Lake Temple in 1892. Dallin, who was born in a Mormon family but
never joined the LDS Church, spent 44 years of his life in Arlington, where
he composed many of his best-known works of art.
The Church had planned to put a cast, 9-foot, 9-inch replica on top of the
Boston Temple, but a lawsuit by neighbors of the building prevented the
Church from putting the statue in place. Instead, the Church offered the
statue temporarily to the town of Arlington for display at the Art Museum,
for display awaiting the outcome of the lawsuit, in its neighboring Robbins
Memorial Garden, adjacent to the Town Hall.
But residents of Arlington protested that display also, saying that the
exhibit would violated the US Constitution's First Amendment, which provides
for the separation of church and state. The Church then withdrew its offer
and instead offered a 29-inch gilted bronze replica of a plaster model
Dallin made in preparation for the Salt Lake Temple's statue. Museum
officials reacted very positively to the gift, "We are very excited about
this gift because it replicates one of Dallin's most important works," said
Museum spokeswoman Linda Olsen. "It is significant because if you compare it
to the allegory that tops the Arlington Town Hall flagpole, you can see the
evolution of Dallin's work in the folds the angel's skirt, for instance."
Meanwhile, the Arlington Board of Selectmen, the town's governing body, has
cleared the way for a temporary display of the statue cast for the Boston
Temple. The LDS Church's Elias Kurban told the board that the statue could
be diplayed there for six weeks, beginning in May, depending on the outcome
of the neighbor's lawsuit over the steeple.
Source:
Arlington presented copy of Dallin work
Boston Globe pg7 21Jan01 A2
By Caroline Louise Cole: Globe Correspondent
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