Symzonia: Voyage of Discovery

Surui said that when the people determined to erect a temple, in which they might assemble for devotional exercises and expressions of gratitude to the Divine Being, they regarded the object as one towards which the whole nation ought to be allowed to contribute. They determined to construct a building in which the greatest multitude ever collected in that district might worship God; and which would also serve for the deliberations of the Grand Council, that they might always be considered to be in the presence of the Supreme Ruler, and discharge their high trust with a due sense of their responsibility to Him who seeth the heart. They had therefore built this Auditory by the surplus labour of the nation: each man having devoted so much of his time to the work as his private affairs would permit, and for no other reward than that of his own feelings and the good opinion of his fellow men. The dome, which appeared so immense and so impracticable, was formed on a high conical hill, by which the site was originally occupied. In the sides of this hill shafts were sunk to the intended level of the foundation, in which the columns were reared. The top of the hill was then shaped for the reception of the stone of the arch, which was thus easily constructed upon the solid earth. When the whole was completed, the earth both within and without the structure was removed, leaving the edifice as it now appeared upon the plain. Within the columns, the earth was formed into a concavity, with graduated steps to the centre, so that an individual in any part of the immense area could see every person within the circumference of the dome.