Helsinki Finland Temple
The Helsinki Finland Temple is the 124th temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The temple was first announced in the April 2000 general conference. It is the third temple in the Nordic countries, with the Stockholm Sweden Temple and the Copenhagen Denmark Temple being the previous two. Plans to build a temple in Oslo, Norway were announced in April 2021.
The site chosen for the Helsinki Temple sits northwest of downtown Helsinki on 7.5 acres, in the city of Espoo, Finland. The angel Moroni statue, along with the gleaming copper 45-meter spire, and the building exterior of Finnish light gray granite make a brilliant landmark for the country of Finland. The beautiful gardens which surround the temple site are open to visitors. [1]
Church Relations representative Seija Linnanen, who interacted with the workers on the temple, was quite impressed with the respect they showed in their language and attitude toward the Latter-day Saint temple. They refrained from smoking as well as listening to the radio, which seemed to convey that they understood and felt that the temple grounds warranted reverence and respect.
The Church held a public open house for the Helsinki Finland Temple beginning on September 21, 2006, and ending on October 7, 2006. Those in the community were encouraged to attend and take the opportunity to learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ and the significance of temple to its members. The temple was dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley on Sunday, October 22, 2006. [2] It was the last temple that President Hinckley dedicated prior to his passing in January 2008.
Following its dedication, the Helsinki Finland Temple serves approximately 26,000 members of the Church living in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia.
History of the Church in Finland
During the 1850s and ’60s, a small number of Finns living abroad joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But it was not until 1875 that Church leaders granted a request from Finnish members to have missionaries sent to their relatives back home. The first of these missionaries were Swedish brothers Carl and Johan Sundström, who were sent from Sweden to preach in Vaasa, Finland, where the country’s first branch was soon established. Because Finland was part of the Russian Empire until 1917, legal and social conditions made preaching difficult, and only a few branches were organized before the end of World War II.
After the war, missionaries were trained in Finnish and assigned to cities around the country. Strong congregations with active youth programs quickly developed. In the 1950s, the Book of Mormon was published in Finnish, and Finnish Saints organized their first temple trip for the dedication of the Bern Switzerland Temple. About 20 years later, in 1977, the first stake in Finland was organized in Helsinki.
Notes
- www.lds.org: Helsinki Finland Temple
- “News of the Church,” Ensign, June 2006, 74
