Manti Utah Temple rededication, open house dates

Publish date: 2024-05-05

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ has announced dedication and open house dates for the Manti Utah Temple, the second of the Church’s pioneer-era houses of the Lord ready for rededication following recent renovations.

The rededication is scheduled for Sunday, April 21, 2024, and will be broadcast to all units within the temple district. Additional information regarding the rededication — including times of sessions and who will be presiding — will be announced at a future date.

Prior to the rededication, a public open house will be conducted from Thursday, March 14, through Friday, April 5, excluding Sundays. A media day will be held Monday, March 11, with invited guests touring the temple March 11-14.

The announcement of the dates were published Monday, Nov. 20, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

During April 2019 general conference, President Russell M. Nelson announced the renovation of several pioneer-era temples — including the 74,792-square-foot Manti temple, which required mechanical upgrades and technology to allow the ordinances and covenants to be administered in multiple languages.

On May 1, 2021, President Nelson announced plans to preserve “the pioneer craftsmanship, artwork and character” of the Manti temple — as well as plans to construct a second temple in Utah’s Sanpete Valley in the city of Ephraim. A closure date of Oct. 1, 2021, was set to start the multiyear renovations.

Church leaders announced plans to construct the Manti temple June 25, 1875. Church President Brigham Young broke ground April 25, 1877, and President Wilford Woodruff, then president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and later the Church’s fourth president, dedicated the temple on May 21, 1888. “Show favor unto all who have helped to forward this work by good wishes, good words or good deeds,” he prayed.

Almost a century later, in June 1985, President Gordon B. Hinckley, then a counselor in the First Presidency, rededicated the temple following renovation. Asking the Lord to sanctify the temple, he prayed that “all who will enter it through the years to come, may feel the presence of Thy Spirit and recognize that they are in holy precincts.”

The Manti temple was the Church of Jesus Christ’s fifth constructed in the latter days and third-oldest still in operation. The Kirtland Temple is owned by the Community of Christ, and the original Nauvoo Temple was left behind by the Saints who were forced to migrate to the Salt Lake Valley; it was later destroyed by fire and a tornado.

Temples in Utah were later built and dedicated — in order — in St. George, Logan, Manti and Salt Lake City before the end of the 19th century.

Following President Nelson’s April 2019 announcement, the St. George Utah Temple was the first to close and begin renovations, in November 2019. It is scheduled to be rededicated next month, on Dec. 10.

The Salt Lake Temple closed in December 2019 for extensive renovations and seismic upgrading. The latest projections for completion are for 2026.

The four pioneer-era houses of the Lord — the St. George, Logan, Manti and Salt Lake temples  — are among the 28 total in the state of Utah, which is home to the Church’s worldwide headquarters and nearly 2.2 million Latter-day Saints.

Utah’s other dedicated and currently operating temples are the Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, DraperJordan RiverMonticello, Mount Timpanogos, Ogden, Oquirrh Mountain, Payson, Provo, Provo City Center, Saratoga Springs and Vernal temples.

Two temples are scheduled for upcoming dedications — the Orem Utah Temple on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024, and the Red Cliffs Utah Temple in St. George on Sunday, March 24, 2024.

Eight other Utah temples are under construction — Deseret Peak, Ephraim, Heber ValleyLaytonLindonSmithfieldSyracuse and Taylorsville.

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