Mount Seleya Mount Seleya was a sacred mountain located on the planet . Geography . Mount Seleya was at the far end of Vulcan ' s Forge . ( ) The mountain was also roughly thirty - seven kellicam s north of the T ' Karath Sanctuary . ( ) By 2285 , a temple had been constructed on the mountain , which incorporated an altar and an adjacent building known as the Hall of Ancient Thought . A long flight of steps led from the base of the mountain , an area that had a fountain and could be used as a landing base for craft , up to the temple . The altar was sparsely furnished and included a Vulcan gong . ( ) History . In ancient Vulcan history , a story that Surak told , regarding the IDIC or " Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination " , began at Mount Seleya . As such , Mount Seleya was represented by a triangle in the IDIC symbol . In the 4th century , Surak died on the mountain from radiation poisoning , and his " katra " was spirited away from the area prior to the final battle between his followers and " those who marched beneath the raptor ' s wings . " That enemy apparently left Vulcan and became the Romulan s . ( ) The Vulcan ship " Seleya " , which was destroyed in 2153 , was presumably named in honor of this mountain . ( ) Shortly after marrying Koss on Vulcan in 2154 , T ' Pol visited Mount Seleya to meditate in solitude . ( ) Shortly thereafter , upon being captured while helping Jonathan Archer and T ' Pau take the long - missing " Kir ' Shara " ( the record of Surak ' s original writings ) from a sealed chamber beneath the T ' Karath Sanctuary to Vulcan ' s capital city , T ' Pol lied to her captor – Talok , a Romulan operative disguised as a Vulcan military officer loyal to the traitorous Administrator V ' Las – that Archer and T ' Pau were actually trying to deliver the " Kir ' Shara " to Mount Seleya . T ' Pol further claimed they were heading there because only the priests on Seleya could translate Surak ' s original writings from within the artifact . ( ) While possessed by Spock ' s " katra " in 2285 , Leonard McCoy pleaded with Admiral James T . Kirk to take him home and " climb the steps of Mount Seleya , " much to Kirk ' s confusion , considering that McCoy was fully Human . After Kirk realized that McCoy was carrying Spock ' s " katra " and brought both individuals to the mountain ( complying with instructions from Sarek , Spock ' s father ) , venerable high priestess T ' Lar supervised Spock ' s " fal - tor - pan " ceremony at the altar on Mount Seleya . ( ) Spock privately underwent final memory testing near the mountain but he and his crewmates left Vulcan three months after their arrival , in 2286 . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Design origins . Mount Seleya wasn ' t in an initial story treatment that Harve Bennett wrote for the third " Star Trek " film ( dated , while the film had the working title " Star Trek III : Return to Genesis " ) . However , it was featured in the first draft script of ( dated ) , in which it was initially described as " a temple complex on a high , forbidding promontory . " A bracketed note then instructed the reader to " see ILM sketches . " Later in the same script , the " Temple area " was used for the landing of a Starfleet - commandeered Klingon Bird - of - Prey bringing Spock to the area . No precise description was given for the journey from the landing site to the place used for the rejoining of Spock ' s " katra " with his body . That destination was referred to as a " ceremonial altar " , further described thus ; " " The altar itself is at the foot of a giant silo - like structure . In an open air amphitheatre ringed by Stonehenge - like rock structures . " " A bracketed note then advised , " " See ILM sketch . " " An important aspect in the conception of Mount Seleya was that Leonard Nimoy wanted its altar to be on a raised platform , so that the Starfleet officers bringing Spock to the mountain had to first land their Bird - of - Prey in an area separate from the altar . This was for a variety of reasons , not the least of which was that adding the ship to shots of the temple would have been expensive . Nimoy also conceived of the route to the high altar . " " Leonard wanted a narrow passageway , a thoroughfare , for dramatic purposes , " " said Industrial Light & Magic art director Nilo Rodis . ( ) The ILM art department produced many different conceptual illustrations for Mount Seleya ' s altar . For instance , fellow art director created sketches of the altar and drew a series of storyboards showing the Bird - of - Prey land near Mount Seleya . ( ) Another ILM employee , matte artist , painted the mountainous scene with craggy cliff tops . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 50 ) A separate view of the clifftop altar incorporated the concept of a large ceremonial fire , though this idea was evidently not used . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 70 ) The initial view of Mount Seleya in " Star Trek III " had to establish the area ' s geography at a glance . " " From my experience , you have tops maybe 15 seconds of that shot , " " Nilo Rodis explained . " " The logistical and dramatic implications of those 15 seconds has got to be very clear and very simple . It cannot be cluttered otherwise it won ' t stick in your memory . To get to that one design , I ' m embarrassed to say that I probably spent days , if not a week , trying to come up with a simple design so that it was memorable . " " The final design for the clifftop temple was also as minimal as possible , helping focus the film ' s emphasis on the events taking place on the mountain rather than on geographical detail . Rodis noted , " " It had to be simple and uncluttered . " " ( ) The final version of the altar set was designed by art director John E . Chilberg II . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 70 ) Decorating the altar . The unusual , large " V " symbol towering over the altar was designed as a stylized version of the Vulcan salute . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 74 ; " The Making of the Trek Films " , 3rd ed . , p . 54 ) In a concept painting of the statue , the symbol was more clearly a representation of a hand making the salute . ( ) John Chilberg illustrated the original concept sketches of the symbol . " " The edifice was designed to have a utilitarian sculptural effect , " " recalled set decorator Tom Pedigo . " " It was intended to look as if it was sculpted out of stone . " " The statue , ultimately measuring twelve foot high , was actually built out of plaster and Styrofoam . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 74 ; " The Making of the Trek Films " , 3rd ed . , p . 54 ) Not only did this colossal construction resemble a Vulcan salute , but so did a much smaller sculpture that was positioned at the center of the edifice . In addition to the altar featuring a gong similar to one in , the entryway of the altar partly consisted of a large fiberglass dome that was actually reused from the Genesis cave in . ( text commentary , " " DVD ) Realizing the mountain . Choosing what to show in the background of the altar was problematic . From such an elevated vantage point and with other mountains only scattered in the foreground , the only thing that would realistically be visible in the background would be sky . Set designer Cameron Birnie remembered , " " The argument we had was that if all you could see was sky , how ' d you know you were high up ? " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 75 ; " The Making of the Trek Films " , 3rd ed . , p . 54 ) Nilo Rodis noted , " " You wanted to show that you were up in the sky , but in reality you were up in the mountains . " " ( ) One solution was to try experimenting with the horizon line . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 75 ; " The Making of the Trek Films " , 3rd ed . , p . 54 ) Illustrator Tom Lay was assigned to work from ILM ' s concepts for the altar set and devise what would be in the background . He made concept paintings of the area , the first of which was a small illustration which demonstrated the scene at night . ( ) Lay outlined which segments of the painting would have to be converted to backdrops , and drew up the correct scale . He reminisced about the painting , " " Everybody loved that [ . . . ] They said , ' Well , OK , except paint it for daytime and we ' ll light it for night . ' So I did that , and there were a few other changes . " " ( ) In fact , the backing evolved through four sketches and was blown up to a large scale . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 78 ) Lay concluded , " " The changes were done accurately but , by the time they saw it in a finished size , they couldn ' t even recognize it ! " " ( ) The set for the altar was constructed on the soundstages at Paramount Pictures . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 78 ) An extremely expensive backing , Tom Lay ' s eventual design was painted on the stage , encompassing 250 degrees of the set . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 75 ; " The Making of the Trek Films " , 3rd ed . , p . 54 ) However , the enormous backing had a clear horizon line dividing the sky and the surrounding mountains ; essentially , the horizon line was too high , making the temple seem as if it were in a crater or a valley . ( ; " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 75 ; " The Making of the Trek Films " , 3rd ed . , p . 54 ) Once Leonard Nimoy , agitated with the design of the backing , called Nilo Rodis down to Los Angeles , Rodis viewed the problem for himself . He fortunately managed to come up with a quick and easy solution . " " I said , ' Just get rid of the backing , and have the director of photography light it as if it is sky . ' And that ' s exactly what they did . " " A new , orange cyclorama backing was painted like the Vulcan sky by J . C . Backings . In an effort to give some life to the backdrop and make it seem as if it was glowing brighter than an ordinary painting , the revised backing was lit from both the front and the back . ( ) Nimoy was still nervous about the backgrounds of the Mount Seleya set , though , owing to its minimalist nature . " " I had a conversation with the photographer , " " related Nimoy , " " and I said , ' Look , make it go out of focus , ' because what it looked like was a painted piece of canvas back there . So , you cross your fingers and hope it works , you know ? " " ( audio commentary , DVD / ) The unused , more detailed backdrop was incorporated elsewhere in the film ' s depiction of Vulcan . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 68 ) Since altering the lighting on the large set between a night and dawn setting was potentially a major undertaking , all the night scenes were filmed together and the dawn scenes followed . This prevented the production crew wasting time and money on changing the lighting more often than was necessary . ( text commentary , " " DVD ) Ultimately , several matte painting s , provided by ILM , were used to depict Mount Seleya , as seen from a distance in the film . ( ) One such painting – a view of the mountain at dawn – is shown on screen for fourteen seconds , an unusually long duration for a static matte painting to remain on screen . ( text commentary , " " DVD ) Kenneth Ralston , the film ' s visual effects supervisor , was wary of the shot almost serving as too much of a reminder to the audience that the view was an illusion . He commented , " " I think they hold on [ it ] longer than any matte painting ever . It still holds up ; but boy , I ' m clawing at the arms of my seat saying , ' It ' s too long , " too long ! ' " ( " Cinefex " , No . 18 , p . 52 ) Although it was also planned for an ILM matte painting to have extended the set for the temple , this was not ultimately the case and such a painting was never used . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 17 , No . 3 / 4 , p . 82 ) Neither was footage of a procession carrying Spock ' s body up the mountain , which included the interior of the clifftop Hall of Ancient Thought , which was ultimately left unnamed in the film . ( ) One matte painting created for " Star Trek III " was reused for a shot of Mount Seleya in . ( text commentary , " " DVD ) Legacy . A " large , time - worn " tapestry of Mount Seleya was referred to in the first draft script of ( which had the working title " Incident at P ' Jem " ) . It was to be shown on - screen , covering an entire wall in a so - called " radio room " in the catacombs of the P ' Jem monastery . In the script ' s stage directions , the tapestry ' s view was described thus ; " " A ritual altar overlooks an eerie volcanic landscape . " " The teleplay ' s dialogue stated about the tapestry , " " It is from the time before Surak . The Altar of C ' thia . The Well of Truth . " " However , the Mount Seleya tapestry was not referred to in the episode ' s final draft script , and doesn ' t appear in the final version of the installment . The tapestry hid a metal door , which led to an underground spy station , otherwise known as " Memory Alpha " . In reality , Mount Seleya definitely provided the name for the Vulcan ship " Seleya " . ( text commentary , ENT Season 3 DVD ) The mountain was originally to have featured as a prominent setting in s Vulcan trilogy ( comprised of the episodes , , and ) . A major battle between armies would have taken place on Mount Seleya in the conclusion of that arc , although this idea was abandoned , since it was considered to be prohibitively expensive . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 37 , No . 2 , pp . 36 - 37 ) Mount Seleya was also rumored to appear in the episode " Kir ' Shara " , prior to that installment airing . The design of Mount Seleya influenced a pair of computer - generated matte paintings in the remastered version of , created to help show the planet of Vulcan in a more expansive way than that episode ' s original version does . ( Starfleet Access for " Amok Time " , TOS Season 2 Blu - ray )