Quote:
Originally Posted by SeattleUte
I recently went to a museum not far from my house called "The Nordic Museum." The neighborhood on the other side from where I live of the canal between Lake Union and Puget Sound was settled by Norwegians, Danes, Swedish, etc.
Two things at the museum made me think of Mormons. First, the depictions of Jesus were the same as I grew up with as a child, including a sculpture exactly like the Christus that kept recurring. It turns out the Christus is a replica of a famous sculpture by a Scandinavian that has been replicated many times. It made me think of how important Scandinavians were among the earliest Mormons, whose ancestors still are prevalent--all those Jensens, Sorensens, Swensens, etc.
Second, there was a large old map of the United States painted on a plywood board hung on the wall. Abstracts were written all across the map describing important events in U.S. history. At a spot in southern Utah there was written, "Brigham Young orders the slaughter of 120 settlers from Arkansas by Mormons disguised as Piute Indians and Piute allies." It made me think that maybe outside my bred in the bone Mormon perspective rightly or wrongly Brigham Young's participation is taken as more of a given than I ever realized.
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Thorvaldsen, "Christus." I admit, he's probably a better sculptor than I am.
Here's the original. Note the twelve apostles flanking the aisles, as well.
