Brussels Belgium Temple
At the 191st Annual General Conference on April 4, 2021, President Russell M. Nelson announced plans to construct a temple in Brussels, Belgium. The Brussels Belgium Temple will be the Church’s first temple in Belgium. Brussels, a major international center, is the European country’s capital. The first chapels built for French-speaking members in Europe were all completed in the 1930s. More than twenty temples are operating, being constructed, or have been announced in Europe.[1]
History of the Church in Belgium
"A convert from Turkey, Mischa Markow, is likely the first member to arrive in Belgium in 1888. He preached to the Esselman family and baptized the mother and son. The other four family members were baptized later. Missionaries laboring in Switzerland and Germany were also sent to Belgium. Within two months they baptized 80 people and organized congregations in Liège, Brussels, and Antwerp. In 1896, a mob of nearly 500 people threatened to kill a missionary, Elder John Ripplinger, in Liège. The mob stormed the home where he was staying, but was dispersed by police. Elder Ripplinger remained in the city and baptized 10 people.
"In the early years, the Church held its meetings in rented halls. The first regular chapels built for French-speaking members in Europe were at Liège, Seraing, and Herstal. They were all completed in the 1930s. The Herstal chapel was dedicated in 1937 by Heber J. Grant, President of the Church. The next visit to Belgium by a President of the Church came in June of 1996 when Church President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke to members and missionaries.
"During the German occupation of Belgium in World War II, members in six branches (small congregations) remained active. Work progressed slowly after the war."[2]
Today members total over 6,000, many of them second, third, and fourth generation members of the Church. Church members in Belgium are organized into 2 stakes and 12 congregations.[3]
"In March 2014, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles traveled to Brussels to oversee the inauguration of the Church’s new European Union office. At the bomb blast at the Brussels Airport in March 2016, four missionaries were injured. In May of the same year, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, then second counselor in the First Presidency visited the Saints in Belgium together with his wife Harriet to express thanks to the members for the outreach to refugees who have been coming to Europe. In July, the Tabernacle Choir performed in Brussels. In 2018, the first native Belgian mission president Johan Buysse was called to preside over the Belgium Netherlands Mission."[4] He and his wife, Linda, served from July 2018 to July 2021.
Location
The Brussels Belgium Temple is currently in the planning stages. The temple will be built within an existing building at Ave des Arts 52, Brussels, Belgium. Plans call for a multistory temple of approximately 25,500 square feet, a meetinghouse, and arrival facilities.
Brussels is in the north central portion of Belgium, approximately 70 miles (110 km) from the Belgian coast and 100 miles (180 km) from Belgium’s southern tip.
