Caracas Venezuela Temple

The Caracas Venezuela Temple is the 96th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1995, President Gordon B. Hinckley announced plans to construct a Mormon temple in Venezuela. Immediately following that announcement, a search was conducted to find a suitable site on which to build. Several properties were considered over the next eighteen months but none was chosen. It was finally decided the temple would be built in the city of Caracas on land that the Church already owned. ["Choosing the Land", by Flora Ruscitti] The groundbreaking of the Caracas Venezuela Temple took place in 1999.

Unexpected obstacles occurred during the construction of the temple. When digging the foundation, excavators discovered an underground spring. Once the water was diverted, the excavation continued. However, the digging caused two major landslides. The first landslide did not cause any damage, but the second did. Eight tons of earth and materials were shifted in the slide. Despite these setbacks, the work was completed in just over a year and a half.

Nearly six thousand members of the Mormon Church attended the dedication of the Caracas Venezuela Mormon Temple on August 20, 2000. The temple was dedicated by President Hinckley. The Caracas Venezuela Temple has a total of convert|15332|sqft|m2, two ordinance rooms, and two sealing rooms. Since 2007, the Caracas Temple is presided, for the first time, by a venezuelan.

ee also

* List of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
* List of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by geographic region
* Comparison of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
* Temple architecture (Latter-day Saints)

Notes

External links

* [http://www.lds.org/temples/main/0,11204,1912-1-131-0,00.html Official LDS Caracas Venezuela Temple page]
* [http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/caracas/ Caracas Venezuela Temple page]
* [http://www.lds.org/ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] - Official Site
* [http://www.mormon.org/ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] - Visitors Site
* [http://www.religionfacts.com/mormonism/practices/temple_ordinances.htm Mormon Temple Ordinances] - ReligionFacts
* [http://home.uchicago.edu/~spackman/temple Resources about the History and Symbolism of Mormon Temples]
* [http://mormanity.blogspot.com/2005/01/mormon-temples-and-secrecy.html Mormon Temples and Secrecy]
* [http://www.mission.net/venezuela/caracas/stories.php?sID=347 The Caracas D. F. Venezuela Temple] a brief history from announcement to dedication by Erin Howarth
* [http://www.desnews.com/cn/view/1,1721,120000972,00.html? Dedicatory Prayer:] 'This most significant gift from Thee' by President Gordon B. Hinckley, August 20, 2000.