Birmingham Alabama Temple |
98th operating temple |
Phone Number: 205-631-3444.
Site: 5.6 acres (including adjoining meetinghouse).
Exterior Finish: Imperial Danby White Marble quarried in Vermont.
Temple Design: Classic modern, single-spire design.
Number of Rooms: Two ordinance rooms and two sealing.
Total Floor Area: 10,700 square feet.
Groundbreaking and Site Dedication: 9 October 1999 by Stephen A. West
Public Open House: 19–26 August 2000
Dedication: 3 September 2000 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Elder Stephen A. West of the Seventy and second counselor in the North America Southeast Area presidency, presided at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Birmingham Alabama Temple. Before offering the site dedicatory prayer, Elder West expressed gratitude for the privelege to participate in the groundbreaking service. "When we drove in about an hour before this meeting was to start, we saw already hundreds of people here, umbrellas up," he said. "And my wife and I started to cry. We were touched by your faith." Elder West told the congregation that life takes sacrifice. "You are sacrificing here as you come today, as you sit in the rain. And it will take sacrifice to come to the temple. It will take commitment and it will take belief. It will require of each of us that we live worthy of having a temple recommend.… Yet it really is not a sacrifice, it really is a blessing." The temple, he concluded, is a gift. "A gift is of no value if it is not unwrapped," he explained. "We need to unwrap it by coming to the temple, by using the temple, by getting the blessings that flow from it."
Elder Lance B. Wickman of the Seventy offered remarks. Elder Wickman, said he felt "a special spirit of history, rich in the air" at the ceremony. "There is more being dedicated here today than ground," he said. "The dedication of you in being here is evident. But through the priesthood of God, a dedication will be pronounced that will have an effect in the lives of all who reside within this temple district" (Church News, 16 October 1999).
