The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is opening the doors of its 12th temple in Utah for two months and inviting the public to experience a guided tour of the interior.
Tours of the new Draper Utah Temple will be offered from 15 January through 14 March 2009. These tours will be available on Mondays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesdays to Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Open house organizers request that advance reservations be made online at www.lds.org/reservations (maximum of 10 reservations) or by calling 1-800-537-6181 or 801-240-7932. Group reservations can also be accommodated by calling these numbers.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 20-22 March 2009, the Draper Utah Temple will be formally dedicated. Latter-day Saints in the area served by the new temple will attend 12 dedicatory sessions.
After its dedication, the temple will serve approximately 60,000 members of the Church in Draper and surrounding communities. It will become the 129th Latter-day Saint temple worldwide.
Temples are considered "houses of the Lord" where Christ's teachings are reaffirmed through sacred ordinances such as marriage that unite families for eternity. In the temple, Church members learn more about the purpose of life and make covenants with God to serve Him and their fellow man. Temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses or chapels where members meet for Sunday worship services.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, former worldwide leader of the Church, announced the construction of the new temple at the Church’s October 2004 general conference.
Now, with the mountains of Corner Canyon as a backdrop, the Draper Utah Temple rises more than 168 feet to the top of its angel Moroni statue. Its exterior is made of white granite from China, and its interior includes limestone from France and Makore wood from Central Africa. Art-glass and murals were created by local artists.
The history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Draper — an area once known to Native Americans as Sivogah, meaning willows — goes back to 1847, when Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. By 1852, it had grown to a community of 20 families whose livelihood was farming and raising cattle and sheep. The first Latter-day Saint congregation in the area was organized in September 1852, with William Draper Jr. as its local ecclesiastical leader and in whose honor the community was later renamed.
The temple is located at 14065 Canyon Vista Lane in Draper, Utah.