Boston Massachusetts Temple

The Boston Massachusetts Temple is the 100th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Boston Massachusetts Temple is located in Belmont, Massachusetts and was dedicated for use on 1 October 2000. When LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the building of small temples in April 1998, he also spoke of a goal to have 100 temples built by the end of 2000. The Boston Massachusetts Temple marked the completion of that goal.

Richard G. Scott, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, presided over the groundbreaking on 13 June 1997, and the building was completed three years later. About 82,600 visitors toured the temple during an open-house prior to its dedication. A local radio station and newspaper working together produced the first on-line tours of a temple. It included narration accompanied by photographs of the temple's interior.

Because of a lawsuit filed by neighbors of the temple site, the Boston Massachusetts Temple was dedicated without the planned steeple. President Hinckley remained optimistic and said the temple work would commence with or without a steeple. His optimism was rewarded when the Supreme Court of Massachusetts ruled in favor of the Church the following May. Previously, a judge had ruled that the building's steeple was not a "necessary element of the Mormon religion." Therefore, under the law the building height limit could be enforced. But the Supreme Court overruled the earlier ruling saying, "A rose window at Notre Dame Cathedral, a balcony at St. Peter's Basilica, are judges to decide whether these architectural elements are 'necessary' to the faith served by those buildings?" The judges concluded that, "It is not for judges to determine whether the inclusion of a particular architectural feature is 'necessary' for a particular religion." [2] On September 21, 2001 the steeple with the famous angel Moroni was set in place, completing the temple.

The Boston Massachusetts Temple is large relative to most other LDS temples with a total of convert|69600|sqft|m2, four ordinance rooms, and four sealing rooms. The exterior is finished with olympia white granite.

Notes

# Larsen, Kent. "Boston Temple Steeple Oked. News about Mormons, Mormonism, and the LDS Church." 16 May 01

ee also

* Temple (Mormonism)
* Temple Architecture (Latter-day Saints)
* 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
* Dover Amendment

External links

* [http://www.lds.org/temples/main/0,11204,1912-1-135-0,00.html Official LDS Boston Massachusetts Temple page]
* [http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/boston/ Boston Massachusetts Temple page]
* [http://www.gbrowndesign.com/projects/institutional/boston%20_temple.html G Brown Design, Inc., Site and Landscape Architectural firm for this temple]
* [http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=8831 Suburban Bostonians try to halt completion of Mormon temple - The Associated Press]
* [http://www.mormonstoday.com/subjects/BostonTemple.shtml Links to many news stories about the controveries dealing with the construction of this temple]
* [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.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/worship/temple.shtml Mormon Temple Worship] - BBC Religion & Ethics