The Tabernacle

LISTEN

The Tabernacle is the home of the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was built between 1864 and 1867, and is designed to have perfect acoustics without the use of microphones or amplification. The dome-shaped auditorium is so sensitive that a pin dropped at the front of the pulpit can be clearly heard at the back of the hall, 170 feet away. This was perfect for sermons delivered to large groups of people, as the speaker could be heard around the whole hall.

The unique Tabernacle roof was designed and built by Henry Grow, a bridge builder. He was asked to span as broad an area as he could without using interior supports. If you go inside, you'll see that the whole interior is open rather than supported by columns. When first built, the Tabernacle was the largest hall in the world to be built this way.

The organ has 11,623 pipes. • The tallest pipes are 32 feet high. The smallest are only as wide as a pencil. All the pipes on the organ play.

If the tabernacle is open, you can go inside and ask for an acoustic demonstration from the missionaries.