Laie Hawaii Temple |
5th operating temple; closed for renovation; scheduled to be rededicated on Sunday, November 21, 2010 |
Phone Number: 808-293-2427.
Site: 11.4 acres.
Exterior Finish: Concrete made of native crushed lava rock and coral, reinforced with steel. It is dressed by pneumatic stone cutting tools to produce a white cream finish.
Temple Design: Suggestive of the ancient temples found in South America—shaped like a Grecian cross with no tower.
Number of Rooms: Four progressive-style ordinance rooms and six sealing.
Total Floor Area: 47,224 square feet.
Site Dedication: 1 June 1915 by Joseph F. Smith
Dedication: 27–30 November 1919 by Heber J. Grant
Public Open House: 2–27 May 1978
Rededication: 13–15 June 1978 by Spencer W. Kimball
Public Open House: 22 October–13 November 2010
Rededication: 21 November 2010
The First Presidency has announced the open house and rededication dates for the Laie Hawaii Temple. The public will be invited to tour the temple Friday, October 22, through Saturday, November 13, excluding Sundays. Tours will be offered from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in October and from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in November.
The temple will be rededicated on Sunday, November 21, in three sessions at 9:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, and 3:00 p.m. A cultural celebration will be held the evening before the rededication on Saturday, November 20, at the Cannon Activities Center on the Brigham Young University–Hawaii campus. Ordinance work will resume on Tuesday, November 23.
Surrounded by lush Hawaiian flora on a gently rising hill that features cascading pools and a large fountain, the Laie Hawaii Temple graces the north shore of Oahu just a half mile from the Pacific Ocean. Travelers along Kamehameha Highway can't miss striking Hale Laa Boulevard that leads the short distance from the highway to the temple. The exquisite boulevard features a tropical garden on one end and palm trees and decorative lights on the other. Sharing the temple grounds is a highly visited public visitors' center. Down the street is Church-owned Brigham Young University–Hawaii and Hawaii's number-one paid attraction, the Polynesian Cultural Center.
The Laie Hawaii Temple was the first temple built in Polynesia.
The Laie Hawaii Temple was the first temple "brought to the people," as it was the first temple dedicated outside of the state (or territory) where Church Headquarters was located.
The Laie Hawaii Temple was the first temple built outside of the continental United States.
At just 10,500 square feet, the Laie Hawaii Temple was the smallest temple the Church had ever constructed.
The Laie Hawaii Temple was originally named the Hawaii Temple.
The Laie Hawaii Temple stands adjacent to Brigham Young University–Hawaii. BYU's other two campuses in Provo, Utah and Rexburg, Idaho also have adjacent temples.
The Laie Hawaii Temple sits on the original Mormon landholdings of Hawaii known as Laie Plantation. The 6,000-acre parcel was purchased in 1865 for $14,000.
President Joseph F. Smith was in Hawaii on business in the spring of 1915 when he was moved by a spiritual impulse to dedicate a site for the Laie Hawaii Temple. The action was later ratified by the brethren and publicly sustained in the October 1915 General Conference.
Construction of the Laie Hawaii Temple came to a standstill when the supply of lumber ran out. Prayers were uttered, and two days later, a freighter was discovered stranded on a nearby coral reef. The captain offered his entire cargo to the saints if they would unload it for him. His cargo? Lumber—enough to complete the temple.
The concrete exterior of the temple was created using crushed rock and coral.
The Laie Hawaii Temple is one of three temples built with no towers or spires. (The others are the Cardston Alberta Temple and the Mesa Arizona Temple.)
Carved friezes decorate each side of the top of the temple, depicting four dispensations of time: Old Testament Dispensation (west), New Testament Dispensation (south), Book of Mormon Dispensation (north), and Latter-day Dispensation (east).
The Laie Hawaii Temple was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day.
The Laie Hawaii Temple was dedicated sixteen years before the creation of the first Hawaiian stake on Oahu in 1935.
The Laie Hawaii Temple features beautiful hand-painted murals on the walls of its progressive-style ordinance rooms: Creation Room, Garden Room, World Room, Terrestrial Room (no murals), and Celestial Room (no murals).
In May 1976, the Laie Hawaii Temple closed for two years for extensive remodeling that provided a new front entrance, enlarged patron and administrative facilities, and converted the progressive-style ordinance rooms to stationary rooms equipped for motion-picture presentation of the endowment.
In December 2008, the Laie Hawaii Temple closed again for two years for structural and seismic upgrades and for restoration of the ordinance rooms to their original appearance and progressive-style presentation of the endowment (still using film). The baptistry was repaired and renovated.