Thousands of Latter-day Saints who entered the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Saturday afternoon for the second session of their 177th Annual General Conference sat on new oak benches, walked on new carpeting and used re-configured stairways to the balcony.

Those cosmetic alterations didn't change the historic look and feel of the Tabernacle, something LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley was adamant about before the seismic upgrade and retrofitting even began two years ago. Most of those in attendance sat on new ergonomically enhanced benches "as hard as the old ones," President Hinckley quipped, though a few of the original pews remain, most at the east end of the main hall.

Fewer pews means more legroom for today's patrons but room for an audience of only 3,456, compared to the 4,787 the building held before refurbishing began in January 2005.

The chandeliers were cleaned and rewired, the face of the organ pipes got a new layer of 23.5K gold leafing and carpeting on the rostrum area has been replaced with a replica of a pattern used in past years.

Yet the major changes in the building's configuration are hidden from public view, beneath the main floor, behind the huge pipe organ and inside the lattice-work ceiling.

During a media tour "backstage" on Friday, reporters saw the First Presidency lounge, as well as new offices, dressing rooms, a music library and state-of-the-art rehearsal hall/recording studios for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. The "green room," whose furnishings provided the name, replaces the old performer's lounge.

Gone are the former baptistry, as well as a narrow hallway from which engineers regularly monitored the functioning of the 19th-century pipe organ.

Presiding Bishop H. David Burton said the Tabernacle will play host to a wider variety of events and performances than in years past, thanks in part to a newly installed stage lift that allows the rostrum area to sink into the floor, providing an expansive staging area for orchestras or other performances.

The new configuration allows three different "sets" for the building: one capable of hosting general conference there at some point in the future if the First Presidency wishes; a multistake conference setup capable of hosting either a single stake or more than one simultaneously; and the "performance stage" set where rostrum furnishings are stored the rostrum disappears into the floor, much like it does in the Conference Center.

Bishop Burton said the choir will use the Tabernacle for its weekly Sunday broadcast "most of the year" but will likely perform in the Conference Center during the summer tourist season to accommodate all the visitors who wish to attend.

David Hall, director of temples and special projects for the church, told reporters the 14 coats of paint that were removed from the Tabernacle ceiling during the refurbishing included one that was "robin's egg blue." The angle of the seating in the balcony has been improved and more legroom added there as well, he said.

Two additional staircases were added to ease access to the balcony, he said, and the earlier staircases were reconfigured so patrons don't have to exit the building and enter those stairwells from an outside entrance as they had before.

General authorities have larger chairs and more elbow room on the rostrum, Hall said, and each of their seats as well as the choir seats has a heating and air-conditioning vent beneath. In years past, audiences were often seen fanning themselves with paper programs during spring and summer events because the building had no air conditioning.

Windows that had been previously covered or painted over have been restored, allowing more natural light into all areas of the building. The refurbished blower for the huge organ has a new home in the center of the sub-basement, and heating, wiring and plumbing systems have all been replaced, Hall said.

Structured steel supports have been added alongside the original wooden trusses inside the roof for added seismic durability, and the 44 stone pillars on which the roof rests have been reinforced with steel bars, while their foundations were reinforced with concrete.

Reporters have their media space at the east end of the Tabernacle, as does a new audiovisual center. Both are housed in what was formerly known as the "cry room," though no one mentioned any hidden meaning in locating the press room there.

Elder Marlin K. Jensen, church historian, said he's been inside the roof since the refurbishing was completed. Those who struggle with dusting at home will appreciate one observation made about the accumulation inside the dome after nearly 150 years of use.

"Someone said they took vacuums up there and came out with about 3,000 pounds of dust. But it's as spotless up there now as it is down here," he said, reclining on a new oak bench.

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