The Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple is the 49th operating

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

. The temple is located in

American Fork, Utah American Fork is a city in north-central Utah County, Utah, United States, at the foot of Mount Timpanogos in the Wasatch Range, north from Utah Lake. This city is thirty-two miles southeast of Salt Lake City. It is part of the Provo–Ore ...

and is the second temple built in

Utah County Utah County is the second-most populous county in the U.S. state of Utah. The county seat and largest city is Provo, which is the state's third-largest city, and the largest outside of Salt Lake County. As of the 2020 United States Census, the ...

and the ninth in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Announcement

The temple was announced by

Gordon B. Hinckley Gordon Bitner Hinckley (June 23, 1910 – January 27, 2008) was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from March 1995 until his death in January 200 ...

, then a counselor in the church's

First Presidency Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency ...

, in general conference on October 3, 1992. The exact location, on land in American Fork previously used as a church welfare farm, was announced at the following conference six months later. The Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple overlooks the cities of American Fork, Cedar Hills,

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

and

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

as well as nearby

Utah Lake Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo-Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Salt La ...

Mount Timpanogos Mount Timpanogos, often referred to as Timp, is the second-highest mountain in Utah's Wasatch Range. Timpanogos rises to an elevation of above sea level in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. With of topographic prominence, Timpanogos is ...

, the peak from which the temple gets its name, and the

Wasatch Mountains The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...

serve as a backdrop. Ground was broken for the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple a year after its announcement. Approximately 12,000 people gathered on the temple site for the ceremony. During the services, the location of the Madrid Spain Temple was announced. Twenty-thousand people attended a ceremony as the

angel Moroni The Angel Moroni () is an angel whom Joseph Smith reported as having visited him on numerous occasions, beginning on September 21, 1823. According to Smith, the angel was the guardian of the golden plates, buried in the hill Cumorah near Smith's ...

statue was lifted to its resting place on the spire of the temple in July 1995. Once the statue was in place, the throngs of visitors broke into applause and then spontaneously began to sing The Spirit of God. A total of 679,217 people toured the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple during the six weeks (August 10 – September 21, 1996) of its public open house. More than 800 children's choirs - made up from nearly every

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

and branch in the temple district - performed near the front entrance to the temple at least once during the open house.

Dedication

The Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple was dedicated on October 13, 1996 by Hinckley, who was then the church's

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

. The dedication lasted an entire week with three sessions on Sunday and four on each of the following days for a total of 27 dedicatory sessions. Before the dedication, Hinckley and his counselors in the First Presidency,

Thomas S. Monson Thomas Spencer Monson (August 21, 1927 – January 2, 2018) was an American religious leader, author, and the 16th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). As president, he was considered by adherents of the re ...

and James E. Faust, applied mortar to the temple's cornerstone. They were followed by

Boyd K. Packer Boyd Kenneth Packer (September 10, 1924 – July 3, 2015) was an American religious leader and educator who served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church), president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jes ...

, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; W. Eugene Hansen of the

Seventy 70 (seventy) is the natural number following 69 and preceding 71. In mathematics 70 is: * a sphenic number because it factors as 3 distinct primes. * a Pell number. * the seventh pentagonal number. * the fourth tridecagonal number. * the fif ...

and executive director of the church's Temple Department;

Robert J. Matthews Robert James Matthews (12 September 1926 – 30 August 2009) was a Latter-day Saint religious educator and scholar, teaching in the departments of Ancient Scripture and Religious Education at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. Begin ...

temple president Temple president is a priesthood leadership position in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). A temple president's primary responsibility is to supervise the affairs of an LDS temple in both an administrative and spiritual ...

; Stephen M. Studdert, vice chairman of the temple committee; and Hinckley's wife, Marjorie. A total of 11,617 participated in the first dedicatory session, of which about 2,900 met in the temple. The others attended the session in the American Fork Tabernacle, 12 stake centers in Utah and Wasatch counties, and the

Salt Lake Tabernacle The Salt Lake Tabernacle, also known as the Mormon Tabernacle, is located on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, in the U.S. state of Utah. The Tabernacle was built from 1863 to 1875 to house meetings for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sa ...

Temple Square Temple Square is a complex, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah. The usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities that are immediately ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, locations to where proceedings of subsequent sessions were also transmitted. Like any temple dedication, admittance to the other locations was for worthy members of the church with a ticket from their bishops. Speakers for the first session were Hinckley, Monson, Faust, and Packer. They were each accompanied to the temple by their wives. About 38,000 attended the three sessions of dedication on the first day. During the week, Hinckley presided over and spoke in 11 dedicatory sessions, including the cornerstone ceremony. Monson and Faust each presided over eight dedicatory sessions, and each spoke in 11 sessions, which included the cornerstone ceremony. A total of 52 general authorities addressed the sessions, as well as the temple presidency and matron.

Temple facts

The Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple has a total of , four

ordinance room In temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), an ordinance room is a room where the ceremony known as the ''Endowment'' is administered, as well as other ordinances such as Sealings. Some temples perform a progre ...

s, and eight sealing rooms. The temple's floor plan is an adaption of the one created for the

Bountiful Utah Temple The Bountiful Utah Temple is the 47th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Bountiful Temple is the eighth temple constructed in the state of Utah. History The history of the temple site began back in 1897, w ...

. The temples are nearly identical from the outside, though the spire on each is noticeably different. Photo of Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple

Presidents

Notable

presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the temple include Robert J. Matthews (1996–99); Rex D. Pinegar (2002–05); L. Edward Brown (2008–11); and Noel B. Reynolds (2011–14);

References

External links