LIBERTY, MO. — Languishing in the cold, miserable confines of a jail dungeon, the Prophet Joseph Smith 160 years ago dictated a letter containing what today is some of the most memorable scripture in Latter-day Saint canon.

It was March 20, 1839, that the revelations recorded as Sections 121, 122 and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants were received and spoken by the prophet while he was imprisoned at Liberty Jail.

On that date this year, the event was commemorated with the unveiling of a new painting at Liberty Jail Historic Site and by other events at Far West, Mo., and the Liberty Missouri Stake center. Community and religious leaders of different faiths attended.

The painting, by Liz Lemon Swindle, was unveiled in the Liberty Jail Visitors Center rotunda and will be permanently displayed there. It depicts Joseph kneeling on the straw-covered floor of the jail dungeon and gazing upward in prayer, a tattered blanket over his shoulders.

Elder Gayle D. Heckel, visitors center director, conducted the commemoration and briefly explained the significance of the day: "The Prophet Joseph Smith and five others were held here on unsubstantiated charges for a little over four months during the bitter cold Missouri winter of 1838-39. The message of Liberty Jail is a simple one. Here, they endured many adversities and hardships with unwavering faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, the Prophet prayed fervently to the Lord, and the Lord answered the prayer with revelation for the benefit of all mankind, because when the Lord speaks to one of His prophets, He gives revelation for the whole world, and the prophet has the responsibility of passing it on."

Elder Heckel explained that the occasion was 160 years to the day since the prophet dictated a letter in the jail to the Saints who were then taking refuge in Quincy, Ill., and other places after being driven from the state of Missouri. (An observance this year on July 24 in Quincy will commemorate the gathering there that immediately preceded the establishment of Nauvoo, Ill.) "He included in that letter the revelations that he received here in Liberty Jail."

Presenting her painting, Sister Swindle said: "My heart is full. This is such an honor to represent this historic event as an individual that bears testimony of this man."

She told of one morning when she was looking at the painting, still unfinished in her studio. She had been reading of Joseph's experiences in the jail. "As I looked at the painting," she said, "it took hold, and I felt those emotions that I was trying to portray. . . . I felt his pain. I felt his tears. I felt his helplessness for the Saints he loved. And I felt the love that he had for the Savior, that all that he did was for Him."

Presiding at the unveiling was Elder Kay Christensen, an Area Authority Seventy representing the North America Central Area presidency.

Government and civic officials in attendance included Liberty Mayor Stephen Hawkins, Missouri State archivist Kenneth Winn, and officers of the Liberty Downtown Merchants Association and Clay County Visitors Bureau.

Presidents of seven area stakes and the Missouri Independence Mission attended. Representatives of other faiths included Apostle Linda Booth and Presiding Bishop Larry R. Norris of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; and Michael and Julie Gatrost from the Restorationist movement.

Elder Heckel and his wife, Sister Patsy J. Heckel, hosted many of the dignitaries at a dinner afterward in the visitors center.

Earlier in the day, Calvin Stevens, a Church education institute instructor at Ogden, spoke to a gathering at Far West, Mo., about the history of that location settled by Latter-day Saints in the 1830s.

In the evening, Sister Swindle and Cliff Cole, the model for Joseph Smith in her paintings, spoke at a fireside in the Liberty stake center, as did Brother Stevens.