[[Image:LDS Temples World Map.svg|thumb|500px|right|Temples of the
LDS Church
]]
This is a
list of temples operated by The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, in chronological order. In
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also called the
Mormon Church, a
temple is a
building dedicated to be a House of the
Lord,
and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred
structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to
the public for a short period of time (an "Open House"). During the
Open House, the church conducts tours of the temple with
missionaries and members from the
local area serving as tour guides, and all rooms of the temple are
open to the public. The temple is then dedicated as a "House of the
Lord," after which only members in good standing are permitted
entrance, thus they are not churches but rather places of
worship.
Within temples, members of the Church make
covenants, receive instructions, and
perform sacred
ordinances, such as:
baptism for the dead,
washing and anointing (or "initiatory"
ordinances), the "
endowment,"
and
eternal marriage sealings. Ordinances are a vital
part of the theology of the church, which teaches that they were
practiced by the Lord's covenant people in all
dispensations. Additionally,
members consider the temple a place to
commune with God, seek God’s aid,
understand the will of God, and receive
personal
revelation.
History
In 1832,
shortly after the formation of the Church, Joseph Smith, Jr. said that the Lord
desired the saints build a temple;
and they completed the Kirtland Temple
in 1836. Initially, the Church constructed temples in
areas where there were large concentrations of members: Utah
, Idaho
, Arizona
, Hawai'i
(all in the
USA), and Alberta
(Canada
). In
the mid 20th century, because of the importance of temples in the
theology, the Church tried to balance density with the travel
requirements that attending the temple imposed upon members.
Thus,
temples were built in Europe (Switzerland
-1955 and England
-1958); the
Pacific Islands (New Zealand
-1958); and Washington, D.C.
(1974 - first American temple East
of Utah since Nauvoo in 1846) when
membership alone might not have justified the effort.
In the 1980s,
Spencer W. Kimball directed the Church to build
smaller temples with similar designs allowing temples to be built
where there were fewer members.
As a result the first temples in South America (Brazil
-1978);
Asia (Japan
-1980); and
Central America (Mexico City
-1983) were built and the number of temples doubled
from 15 to 36.
Church president and
prophet Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008) also accelerated the
construction of temples through the use of an even smaller
standardized base design.In 1998 when there were only 51 temples,
Hinckley set a goal to have 100 temples before 2001. Between the
brief building period from 1998 to 2001, 38 of these standardized
temples were constructed and dedicated, meeting Hinckley's goal by
having 102 dedicated temples before 2001. During Hinckley's service
as president, the number of temples more than doubled from 47 to
124.
Statistics
List of temples
Destroyed or operated by others
Operating
Dedicated: 19th century
Dedicated: early 20th century
Dedicated: 1950s & '60s
Dedicated: 1970s
Dedicated: 1980s
- First smaller temples dedicated
Dedicated: 1990s
- Standardized temple building period begins
Dedicated: 2000s
- Hinckley's goal to reach 100 temples by end of 2000
reached
Under construction
Note: Numbering of temples announced or under
construction is tentative (which is indicated by placing the
numbers in italics) and based upon the groundbreaking date, or the
date of announcement if no groundbreaking has taken place.
Permanent numbering may change depending upon the date of
dedication.
Announced
Efforts suspended
The following is a list of temples that had been announced and in
some stage of development, but whose construction is no longer
being pursued.
Footnotes
- Recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, Smith wrote
that the Lord commanded the Saints to "establish a house, even a
house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of
learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;" (see
)
- Before this time, all but the Switzerland temple were at least
, and the average size of the first 20 temples was . The new
temples varied in size but were generally less than . By
comparison, the Nauvoo temple, built in the 1840s, was . Some of
these temples have been remodeled since the original construction
to provide additional rooms.
- Hinckley announced the use of smaller standardized temples in
1997 ( ). The base design is about , and temples built from the
design are generally between . These temples generally do not
include a large laundry facility, do not provide members with the
ability to rent temple clothing, nor provide a cafeteria for
members (Almanac, 2000).
- Because the two prior
Presidents of the Church before Hinckley (Kimball and
Ezra Taft
Benson) had incapacitating illnesses during the latter part of
their service as prophet, Hinckley dedicated a total of 84 temples,
even though, during his presidency, 14 temples were dedicated by
others: James
E. Faust (7), Thomas S. Monson (6), and
Boyd K.
Packer (1).
See also
References
- (Almanac)
- (Almanac)
- (Official List)
External links
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