Johannesburg South Africa Temple
The Johannesburg South Africa Temple is the 36th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The building of a temple in Johannesburg, South Africa was announced on 1 April 1981 during the opening session of the 151st Annual General Conference of The Church. The announcement of the Johannesburg South Africa Temple came less than three years after the June 1978 revelation, announced by President Spencer W. Kimball, extending the priesthood and temple blessings to all worthy male members of the Church regardless of race or color.
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History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Africa
On the twenty-third day of May in 1853, Jesse Haven stood on the slopes of Lion's Head overlooking southern Africa's Cape Town, already an historic city, and there prophesied that many of the honest in heart of that land would come to rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesse Haven, William H. Walker, and Leonard I. Smith were there to organize the Mormon Church and to dedicate the land for missionary work. Harsh conditions and opposition resulted in slow progress in those early days. In 1865 the missionaries were pulled out but sent back in 1903. Years later, missionaries were again taken out in 1940 because of WWII. When the war was over, the missionaries returned.
From that time forward, the membership of the Mormon Church began to grow rapidly; so much so, that the Church leaders announced the building of a Temple in Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa. The site was dedicated and groundbreaking took place on November 27, 1982. President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Johannesburg Temple on August 24, 1985. Church members come from Congo, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Madagascar to attend the temple and partake in the blessings that only the temple can offer.
There was an enormous effort put forth in preserving the area's historical value. Once the site of estates built by nineteenth-century mining magnates and financiers, the area around the temple now features hospitals, office buildings and schools, many of which are housed in mansions from the Victorian Era. [1]
The Temple is visible from many parts of the city with its six spires reaching into the sky. The edges of the building are finished with tiered layers of face brick, immaculately fitted together, giving it an elegance and distinctiveness.3 That with the gray slate roof and the indigenous quartzite for the temple's perimeter walls and entrance archways, it fits in suitably with the historic buildings nearby. [1] The Johannesburg South Africa Temple has a total floor area of 19,184 square feet, four ordinance rooms, and three sealing rooms.
Notes
- "The First 100 Temples", by Chad Hawkins, 2001, p 100
