The Temple of Solomon (, ) is a replica of the Temple of Solomon built by the

Universal Church of the Kingdom of God The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG; ; , IURD) is an international Evangelical Neo-charismatic movement, Neo-charismatic Christian denomination with its headquarters at the Temple of Solomon (UCKG), Temple of Solomon in São Paulo, B ...

(UCKG) in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. According to Brazilian press reports, the new temple is an "exact replica" of the ancient Temple of Solomon in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

.Réplica do Templo de Salomão deve custar R$ 200 milhões
Eduardo Reina, 22 de julho de 2010, O Estado de S.Paulo. According to the church's leader, "The outside is exactly the same as that which was built in Jerusalem", but with increased dimensions. Bishop Edir Macedo, the founder and leader of the neo-pentecostal church, at the time of construction explained that "We are preparing ourselves to build the temple, in the same mold as

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

's.

Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (), was a biblical Temple in Jerusalem believed to have existed between the 10th and 6th centuries Common Era, BCE. Its description is largely based on narratives in the Hebrew Bible, in which it ...

… used tonnes of gold, pure gold … We are not going to build a temple of gold, but we will spend tonnes of money, without a shadow of doubt.""Solomon's Temple in Brazil would put Christ the Redeemer in the shade; Huge replica planned for São Paulo would be twice the height of the iconic statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro
Tom Phillips, July 21, 2010, The Guardian. Bishop Macedo has said that the temple is twice the height of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

's Catholic-sponsored '' Christ the Redeemer'' statue. Inside the temple there is a replica of the

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, was a religious storage chest and relic held to be the most sacred object by the Israelites. Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorat ...

constructed according to "biblical orientations".

History

On August 8, 2010, Bishop Edir Macedo presided over the

foundation stone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

ceremony of the temple. The temple was officially inaugurated on July 31, 2014. The inauguration attracted thousands of worshipers including then-Brazilian President

Dilma Rousseff Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the only woman to have held the ...

. The Temple serves as both a house of worship and as world headquarters for the Church. The mega-church seats 10,000 worshipers and stands 55 meters (180') tall, the height of an 18-story building. Its dimensions therefore far exceed the temple it replicates, described in the Bible as having the relatively modest height of some thirteen meters ("thirty cubits", 1 Kings 6:2). The majority of the temple space is devoted to the main sanctuary. The sanctuary is lined with pews imported from Spain, which face the main altar. The sanctuary has a conveyor belt system designed to carry tithes and offerings from the altar directly into a safe room. The main ceiling is adorned with 10,000 LED light bulbs which will form different patterns designed to look like stars. Keeping with the Jewish theme of the temple, the walls are adorned with menorahs, and the entrance features a large central menorah. The church spared no expense in designing the many other features of the temple. Aside from the main sanctuary, the temple also has 36 rooms for children's Bible school, with a capacity of about 1,300 children, radio and television studios, a museum about the original temple, and 84 apartments of differing sizes for bishops and pastors of the church. The 11-story complex includes outdoor features such as a helicopter landing pad, a garden of olive trees based on the

Garden of Gethsemane Gethsemane ( ) is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus Christ underwent the Agony in the Garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. The garden is ...

near Jerusalem, and flags of several countries There is a parking lot able to accommodate 1,000 vehicles and 50 buses. One of the most prominent features of the temple is its large central altar. It features an exact replica of the

, built to the specifications described in the

Book of Exodus The Book of Exodus (from ; ''Šəmōṯ'', 'Names'; ) is the second book of the Bible. It is the first part of the narrative of the Exodus, the origin myth of the Israelites, in which they leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through the strength of ...

. The structure is entirely covered in gold leaf. Behind the ark is the temple's baptistry, above the altar is 100 square meters of gold stained glass windows, and an inscription "Holiness to the Lord" In September 2019, Brazil's president

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...

visited temple to strengthen ties with UCKG.

Construction

The temple construction cost about

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

300m; the original estimate in 2010 was $200m. It took four years to build. The building was designed by architect Rogério Silva de Araújo. The temple takes up an entire city block, and 24 properties had to be purchased in order to create the space to build it. The project also required new traffic signals and other improvements to the surrounding streets to improve traffic flow."Em troca de megatemplo, igreja vai fazer obras para aliviar trânsito no Brás
Eduardo Reina, 22 de Julio, 2010, O Estado de S.Paulo. Construction on the temple used 28,000 cubic meters of concrete and two tons of steel. The church also contracted to import $8m worth of

Jerusalem stone Jerusalem stone (Hebrew: ; ) is a name applied to various types of pale limestone, dolomite and dolomitic limestone, common in and around Jerusalem that have been used in building since ancient times. One of these limestones, '' meleke'', has ...

from Israel. The stone was used to cover the central pillars of the temple, the entrance, and the center aisle. Macedo told the ''Guardian'' that "We have signed the contract and commissioned the stones that will come from Jerusalem, just like the ones that were used to build the temple in Israel; stones that were witnesses to the powers of God, 2,000

ears In vertebrates, an ear is the organ that enables hearing and (in mammals) body balance using the vestibular system. In humans, the ear is described as having three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear co ...

ago."

Jewish reception

Brazil's Jewish community has generally accepted the temple, with a bit of reluctance. Rafael Edad, Israel's ambassador to Brazil, stated during the end of the temple construction that "four years is too little time to build something so great, with so many details. It is great like Brazil, I have no words". Some have had more mixed feelings, such as Brazilian rabbi Nilton Bonder, who stated "on the one hand, there's the favorable way in which Jewish culture and history are treated in the structure, uton the other, there's the bizarre aspect of the project's dimensions and aggressive marketing".

Additional information

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God was founded in Brazil in 1977. It claims to have 8 million communicants who live in 180 countries. It has a television channel, Rede Record, and a weekly newspaper, ''Folha Universal,'' distributed freely to 2.5 million households, according to Church officials who also say that Bishop Macedo's blog gets as many as 4 million hits per month.

References

External links