During a 15-minute installation that moved with precision, a gold-leafed statue of the Angel Moroni was placed on the spire of the Bountiful Utah Temple Oct. 18.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 people watched as a giant crane's cable tightened and the 12-foot statue rose from the ground and slowly turned as it was lifted skyward. The statue seemed to be suspended motionless as it moved toward the spire.Then workers maneuvered the statue into position, fitting a metal shaft at the base of the statue into a pipe in the tower. As the statue's burnished robes caught the sun, a worker raised both hands, signaling the statue was in place. Cheers echoed from the crowd and from construction workers gathered on the roof.
With the statue installed, the tower's top is complete, faced with light colored bethel granite imported from a quarry a few miles from the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith in Vermont.
