Learn About the European Areas Where New Temples Were Recently Announced

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By David Schneider, Church News

Among the 20 new temples announced by President Russell M. Nelson at the April 2021 general conference, three locations are in Europe: Oslo, Norway; Brussels, Belgium; and Vienna, Austria.

Oslo, Norway

• First temple in Norway; fourth in Scandinavia, after Stockholm Sweden (dedicated in 1985), Copenhagen Denmark (2004) and Helsinki Finland (2006).
• Norway is home to 4,500 Church members in two stakes and 20 congregations. The stakes are based in Oslo (created in 1977) and Drammen (2012).
• Oslo, the country’s capital, has a city population of about 600,000 and more than a million people in its metropolitan area. Norway has more than 5 million residents.
• The city is in southeastern Norway, at the northern end of the Oslofjord, which connects to the North Sea.
• Oslo is currently in the Stockholm Sweden Temple district; Stockholm is about 320 miles from Oslo.
• The first missionaries arrived in Norway in 1851, and the first two congregations were organized in July 1852. Until 1950, members and missionaries in Norway used the Danish translation of the Book of Mormon. In 1988, the Church officially registered with the Norwegian government.

Brussels, Belgium

• First temple in Belgium; it and the Vienna Austria Temple will be the sixth and seventh in continental Western Europe, after Bern Switzerland (dedicated in 1955), Freiberg Germany (1985), Frankfurt Germany (1987), The Hague Netherlands (2002) and Paris France (2017).
• Belgium has 6,600 Church members in two stakes and 12 congregations. The stakes are based in Brussels (created in 1977) and Antwerp (1994).
• Brussels is Belgium’s capital. It has a city population of about 180,000 and more than a million people in its metropolitan area. Belgium has about 11.5 million residents.
• The city is in the central part of Belgium, about 30 miles south of Belgium’s largest city, Antwerp, which has a population of more than a half-million people.
• Belgium is currently in The Hague Netherlands Temple district; The Hague is about 110 miles from Brussels.
• Two attempts at missionary work in the 1860s were unsuccessful. The first baptisms in Belgium were in 1887. The first branches in Brussels were organized in 1892. The first chapels built for French-speaking members in Europe were in Belgium and were dedicated in 1931.

Vienna, Austria

• First temple in Austria; it and the Brussels Belgium Temple will be the sixth and seventh in continental Western Europe.
• Austria has 4,700 members in two stakes and 17 congregations. The stakes are based in Vienna (created in 1980) and Salzburg (1997).
• Vienna, the country’s capital, has a city population of just under 2 million in a metropolitan area of about 2.5 million and a country of about 9 million.
• The city is in east Austria, about 45 miles from the country’s eastern border.
• Austria’s two stakes are currently in the Frankfurt Germany Temple district; Vienna is about 440 miles from Frankfurt.
• Elder Orson Pratt, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and William W. Ritter arrived in Austria to begin missionary work in 1865, but Church growth was sporadic until after World War I because of legal restrictions and conflicts. Austria granted official government recognition to the Church in September 1955.

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