Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple Opens for Tours

The public open house for the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints begins this week, following several years of construction.

Media attended a news conference and tour of the house of the Lord on Monday, August 12, 2024. Those participating in the event included Elder James R. Rasband, an assistant executive director of the Temple Department; Elder Mathias Held, First Counselor in the North America Northeast Area; Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman; and local leader President Chris Hoke of the Pittsburgh North Stake.

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“The temples, for us, are our most sacred place. They, literally in our mind, are the house of the Lord, and so we do everything we can to make them beautiful because we're building to the Lord. And we believe when we enter it, we enter in His presence. And so, there's not anything more sacred than that,” said Elder Rasband.

“Like President Nelson says when a temple is dedicated, there is a greater measure of the light of Christ, and I am already feeling that. Now we're already seeing the fruits of a house of the Lord being built and soon dedicated in western Pennsylvania,” said President Hoke.

“When we read about Jesus teaching at the temple, this is a place where we also can come as Saints have for millennia to connect with the Father and His Son and to become better,” said President Freeman.

“This is a time when we open the doors wide to the public, and we allow friends of the Church to come in and to see this beautiful house of the Lord, and to learn a little bit more about what takes place in these sacred places of worship for us, and to be able to ask questions and to learn a little bit more about our faith and what we believe,” she said.  

“Come to the house of the Lord. See this temple. It's beautiful. It's peaceful. It really is the beauty of the ordinances, and the chance to connect ourselves to the Savior, Jesus Christ. And for us, it's to feel His peace. That is the real reason to come to the temple,” Elder Rasband added.

Invited guests will tour the temple through Thursday, August 15. The public open house will be held from Friday, August 16, through Saturday, August 31, excluding Sundays. Tickets are not needed for the tours, which are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free.

About the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple

The Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple, located in the Northeastern United States, was announced by President Russell M. Nelson in April 2020. The sacred structure is 32,240 square feet in size and sits on 5.8 acres at 2093 Powell Road in Cranberry Township. The ground was broken for the temple on August 21, 2021.

The temple will be dedicated by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in two sessions on Sunday, September 15, 2024, at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. EDT. The dedication will be broadcast to all meetinghouses within the temple district.

The Pittsburgh house of the Lord is a steel-frame structure with granite cladding. The design includes the mountain laurel, which was designated as Pennsylvania's official state flower in 1933. The art glass features a dogwood tree and flower motif in gold, pink and green. 

The new Pittsburgh temple is the second in Pennsylvania and the 196th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ. It will serve more than 29,000 Church members in over 80 congregations.

The Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple was dedicated on September 18, 2016. In April 2023, President Nelson announced that a third temple in the state will be built in Harrisburg.

More than 53,000 Latter-day Saints in more than 100 congregations reside in Pennsylvania, where many significant events in Church history occurred. Most of the Book of Mormon was translated in the town of Harmony.

Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ are different from meetinghouses or chapels where members gather for Sunday worship services. A temple is considered a house of the Lord, where the teachings of Jesus Christ are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism and other sacred agreements that unite families for eternity.