Photograph of the Mormon temple in Idaho Falls with pine branches in the foreground

Interesting Facts

 

Dimensions

  1. The Washington D.C. Temple's 288-foot spire makes it the tallest of all Latter-day Saint temples.
  2. Plans for the Los Angeles California Temple were postponed for World War II and later revised to make it the largest temple built since the Salt Lake Temple.
  3. The México City México Temple is the largest outside of the United States.
  4. The Guayaquil Ecuador Temple is the largest outside of North America.
  5. At 6,800 square feet, the Colonia Juárez Chihuahua México Temple is the smallest in the world.
  6. The St. George Utah Temple has more sealing rooms than any other temple—18.

Design and Construction

  1. The St. George Utah Temple originally followed the design of the Nauvoo and Kirtland Temples, featuring an assembly hall and an instruction hall partitioned for presenting the endowment.
  2. The Ogden Utah Temple, Provo Utah Temple, Jordan River Utah Temple, and Washington D.C. Temple were built with six endowment rooms to make them functional for the use of the Saints.
  3. Three temples feature no tower or spire: the Laie Hawaii Temple, Cardston Alberta Temple, and Mesa Arizona Temple.
  4. The Oakland California Temple is the only Latter-day Saint temple to be built with five spires.
  5. A large priesthood assembly room was standard in all temples until the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated. Since then, very few temples have included such a room, representing a design transition that focused more on ordinance work and less on general assembly.
  6. Shortly after Brigham Young's death, the original "squatty" tower of the St. George Utah Temple, which he disliked, was struck by lightning and burned to its base.
  7. The Salt Lake Temple took 40 years to build.
  8. The Nauvoo Illinois Temple and Apia Samoa Temple are the only two modern-day temples to have been completely destroyed and rebuilt.
  9. The Vernal Utah Temple, Copenhagen Denmark Temple, and Manhattan New York Temple are all adaptations of existing Church-owned buildings.
  10. Every window in the San Antonio Texas Temple is filled with art glass created by Utah artist Tom Holdman.

Temple Firsts

  1. The Bern Switzerland Temple was the first temple constructed in Europe.
  2. The São Paulo Brazil Temple was the first temple constructed in South America.
  3. The Hamilton New Zealand Temple was the first temple constructed in the Southern Hemisphere.
  4. The Johannesburg South Africa Temple was the first temple constructed in Africa.
  5. The Tokyo Japan Temple was the first temple constructed in Asia.
  6. The Ogden Utah Temple was the first temple dedicated in Utah after it became a state. (Utah gained statehood on January 4, 1896, almost three years after the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple.)
  7. The first temple to not have English as its predominant language is the Bern Switzerland Temple.
  8. Endowments for the dead were first performed in the St. George Utah Temple.
  9. The first temple to be built in a nation under Communist rule is the Freiberg Germany Temple.
  10. Elder Boyd K. Packer dedicated the Regina Saskatchewan Temple—the first 20th century temple to be dedicated by an apostle who was not a member of the First Presidency.
  11. The St. Paul Minnesota Temple was the first temple dedicated in the year 2000.
  12. The Cardston Alberta Temple was the first to be constructed in a country other than the United States.
  13. The Mesa Arizona Temple presented ordinances in Spanish in 1945, the first temple to present ordinances in a language other than English.
  14. Through the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, all temples had been built in the same state as Church Headquarters. The Laie Hawaii Temple was the first temple "brought to the people."
  15. The first temple constructed with the idea of using a film rather than live acting to present the endowment was the Bern Switzerland Temple.
  16. On November 14, 1999, the Halifax Nova Scotia Temple and Regina Saskatchewan Temple became the first two temples dedicated on the same day.
  17. The first completed "smaller-and-remote-area" temple of the Church as conceived by President Gordon B. Hinckley was the Monticello Utah Temple.
  18. The Vernal Utah Temple was the first temple to be converted from an existing building.
  19. The Logan Utah Temple was the first temple built with a progressive room style for presentation of the endowment.
  20. The Cardston Alberta Temple was the first for which the First Presidency invited architects to submit their original designs. (All previous designs had been received by direct revelation.)

Angel Moroni Statues

  1. Nine (9) temples do not have an angel Moroni. They are the St. George Utah, Logan Utah, Manti Utah, Laie Hawaii, Cardston Alberta, Mesa Arizona, Hamilton New Zealand, London England, and Oakland California Temples.
  2. The Sydney Australia Temple and Boston Massachusetts Temple were both dedicated without an angel Moroni due to pending litigation. In both cases, rulings allowed for the angels to be installed about a year after dedication.
  3. The Monticello Utah Temple is the only temple to have had a white angel Moroni. White fiberglass statues were to decorate the "smaller and remote-area" temples, but the Monticello statue proved too difficult to see. It was replaced about a year later by a larger, traditional gold-leafed statue, which remained the standard.
  4. "Twin" temples, the Ogden Utah Temple and Provo Utah Temple, had angel Moroni statues added to the tops of their spires—painted white as part of the project—over 30 years after their dedications.
  5. The Nauvoo Illinois Temple, The Hague Netherlands Temple, and Boston Massachusetts Temple participated in a tri-temple setting of the angel Moroni on the 178th anniversary of the day that Moroni first appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
  6. The Nauvoo Illinois Temple was the first to have an angel (though not identified as Moroni), and it is the only temple to have a horizontal or flying angel (which functioned as a weathervane). The angel was inspired by Revelations 14:6, which says, "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."
  7. The first temple to have a standing angel Moroni was the Salt Lake Temple.
  8. A short time after receiving a review of the Atlanta Georgia Temple from the Faith & Values section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Church revised its plans for the temple to include a spire and angel Moroni. Every temple built since has featured an angel Moroni statue (except for the Freiberg Germany Temple, which received an angel 16 years after its dedication).
  9. Unlike most temples, the Seattle Washington Temple, Nauvoo Illinois Temple, and Taipei Taiwan Temple all have angel Moroni statues facing west.
  10. The trumpets of the angel Moroni statues on both the Santiago Chile Temple and the Tokyo Japan Temple have been lofted out of Moroni's grasp during earthquakes.
  11. Due to its height and conductivity, it is not unheard of for an angel Moroni statue to be struck by lightning during a thunderstorm just like a lightning rod.
  12. Only five temples feature an angel Moroni statue holding the gold plates. They are the Los Angeles California Temple, Washington D.C. Temple, Seattle Washington Temple, Jordan River Utah Temple, and México City México Temple.

Dedications

  1. The year 2000 saw 34 dedications, the most temple dedications in one year in history.
  2. Since the dedication of the St. George Utah Temple, the 1900s and 1930s are the only two decades void of temple dedications.
  3. Dedications of the first 50 currently operating temples spanned 120 years. The next 50 dedications spanned 3 years.
  4. The Monterrey México Temple was the second announced to be built in Mexico but was the twelfth to be dedicated in that country due to long delays in neighborhood negotiations.
  5. President Joseph F. Smith died just one year before the dedication of the temple in his beloved Hawaii.
  6. The Nauvoo Illinois Temple was dedicated on the 158th anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
  7. The St. George Utah Temple, Salt Lake Temple, and Palmyra New York Temple are the three operating temples dedicated on April 6.
  8. President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated 4 temples in just one week, June 11–18, 2000: Fukuoka Japan Temple, Adelaide Australia Temple, Melbourne Australia Temple, and Suva Fiji Temple.
  9. The announced date of dedication had to be withdrawn for the Montevideo Uruguay Temple due to a strike in the country that greatly delayed completion of the building.
  10. Joseph Fielding Smith wrote the dedicatory prayer for the Provo Utah Temple, but it was read by Harold B. Lee.
  11. The dedicatory services of the Mesa Arizona Temple were broadcast over the radio.
  12. Because of their historical significance, the dedicatory services of the Palmyra New York Temple, Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple, and Nauvoo Illinois Temple were broadcast internationally via encrypted satellite.

Locations

  1. All Spanish-speaking nations in South America have a temple.
  2. The Redlands California Temple stands on a parcel of the original Mormon landholdings purchased in October 1851 by Elders Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich.
  3. An old Elizabethan manor, which was converted for a time for use as a missionary training center for the European saints, sits on the site of the London England Temple.
  4. No country outside the United States had more than one temple until 1990 when Canada's second temple was dedicated in Toronto, and East and West Germany reunited, placing its two temples in Freiberg (1985) and Frankfurt (1987) under one nation.
  5. Located off Highway 99, the Fresno California Temple—announced in 1999—was the 99th announced temple.
  6. The morning of the site dedication of the Manti Utah Temple, Brigham Young took Warren S. Snow aside and said, "Here is the spot where the Prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this piece of land for a temple site, and that is the reason why the location is made here, and we can't move it from this spot."
  7. The land where the Portland Oregon Temple stands was originally purchased to build a Church junior college.
  8. The Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple is built on the site of a former Church welfare farm.
  9. The location of Madrid Spain Temple was announced at the groundbreaking of the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple.
  10. Temples are adjacent to all three Brigham Young University campuses including the Provo Utah Temple, Laie Hawaii Temple, and Rexburg Idaho Temple.