Angel Moroni Statue

Author: Maxwell, Cory H.

A monument to the angel Moroni (see Moroni, Angel) stands atop the Hill Cumorah, four miles south of Palmyra, New York, where Moroni 2 gave Joseph Smith the gold plates from which he translated the Book of Mormon (see Moroni, Visitations of). Mounted on a 25-foot shaft of white granite, the ten-foot bronze figure of Moroni points toward heaven with the right hand and holds a replica of the plates with the left. Created by Norwegian sculptor Torleif S. Knaphus, the monument was dedicated by Church President Heber J. Grant on July 21, 1935.

Moroni was the last in a line of prophet-leaders in the Western Hemisphere whose history is recorded in the Book of Mormon. Latter-day Saints believe John the Revelator foretold Moroni's angelic ministry: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" (Rev. 14:6).

Because Moroni's mission was vital to the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a statue of Moroni as a herald sounding a trumpet has been placed on several Latter-day Saint temples (e.g., Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.).Illustration Angel Moroni Monument, by Torlief S. Knaphus (1935, granite and cast bronze, 39'), at the Hill Cumorah, south of Palmyra, New York. This monument stands on the Hill Cumorah where the gold plates containing the Book of Mormon record were deposited and where the Angel Moroni delivered them in 1827 to Joseph Smith.

Bibliography

Giles, John D. "The Symbolism of the Angel Moroni Monument-Hill Cumorah." Instructor 86 (Apr. 1951):98-99.

CORY H. MAXWELL