The Hague Netherlands Temple
The Hague Netherlands Temple is the 114th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The building of a temple in The Hague, Netherlands was announced on August 16, 1999. This temple serves more than 13,000 members from the Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of France.
Latter-day Saint missionary Elder Orson Hyde, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles first entered the Netherlands in 1841. He stayed for a little more than a week preaching the gospel, but he had really been sent to go to Jerusalem. It was not until twenty years later in 1861 that the first Latter-day Saint missionaries were officially sent to the Netherlands. On October 1, 1861, near the village Broek bij Akkerwoude the first converts to the Church of Jesus Christ in the Netherlands were baptized. People from the Netherlands joined the Church by the thousands, but most emigrated to the United States to be in Utah near Church headquarters. In more recent years Church leadership has asked members to stay in their own lands and build up the Church there. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has continued to steadily grow in the Netherlands and there are now three stakes and 9,365 members.
A groundbreaking ceremony and site dedication was held on August 26, 2000. The site chosen for the temple is in a city park. A church building was razed to permit construction of the The Hague Netherlands Temple since the city would allow only one building on the site. Temple construction quickly began. Because the site bought by the Church is only slightly larger than the area needed for the temple, a parking garage and Church Distribution Center were built underneath the temple.
An open house for the public was held August 17-31 2002. President of the Church, Gordon B. Hinckley, dedicated The Hague Netherlands Temple on September 8, 2002. In the dedicatory prayer President Hinckley not only dedicated the temple for use, but also blessed the country and the people that they would be free and prosper. Of the dedication ceremony President Hinckley stated, "four sessions were held. What a touching and wonderful experience that was." [1]
The Hague Netherlands Temple has a total of 10,500 square feet, two ordinance rooms, and two sealing rooms.
Notes
- Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Marvelous Foundation of Our Faith,” Ensign, Nov. 2002, 78
