Searching for the New Zion. Salt Lake or the Invisible City

In Mormonism the idea of Zion was prominent from the beginning. Joseph Smith was initially looking for an American city to become the City of God, the New Zion. Afterwards, he aimed at founding a brand new city. Finally, after several unsuccessful attempts and Smith’s death, Brigham Young realized the Mormons needed a whole new land, with its capital located beyond the reach of hostile Gentiles. Thus, Mormons marched far away to the West, and Salt Lake City was set up, planned and developed. But the idea of Salt Lake-Zion involved a contradiction. It should be a pure, organized, harmonious, saint and luminous city, reflecting the Glory of the Lord. But it also should attract people from all over the world, in order to finally conquer the Earth and surrender all nations to the true God. And these tensions have been present all along Salt Lake City history: a city both hidden and a crossroad, sacred and mundane, spiritual and material, apart from the U.S. and a State of the Union, where the LDS Church is a big corporation, and most companies have some religious component. It was designed to be a secret, invisible city, but also to eventually become the axis mundi, and the place for the Lord to arrive in His second and final coming