The
Hamilton New Zealand Temple (formerly the
New Zealand Temple) is the 13th constructed and 11th operating
templeIn The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also called the LDS or Mormon Church, a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a...
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located just outside the city of
Hamilton, New ZealandHamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's seventh largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...
in the suburb of
Temple ViewTemple View is a suburb of the city of Hamilton, New Zealand. Temple View was established in the 1950s out of the construction of the Hamilton New Zealand Temple and the Church College of New Zealand by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
, it was built with a modern single-spire design very similar to the
Bern Switzerland TempleThe Bern Switzerland Temple is a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Though the building is located in Münchenbuchsee, its postal address is assigned to the neighboring municipality of Zollikofen...
.
The building of an LDS temple in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
was announced by
David O. McKayDavid Oman McKay was the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , serving from 1951 until his death...
, the ninth president of the LDS Church, on February 17, 1955.
The
Hamilton New Zealand Temple (formerly the
New Zealand Temple) is the 13th constructed and 11th operating
templeIn The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also called the LDS or Mormon Church, a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a...
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located just outside the city of
Hamilton, New ZealandHamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's seventh largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...
in the suburb of
Temple ViewTemple View is a suburb of the city of Hamilton, New Zealand. Temple View was established in the 1950s out of the construction of the Hamilton New Zealand Temple and the Church College of New Zealand by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
, it was built with a modern single-spire design very similar to the
Bern Switzerland TempleThe Bern Switzerland Temple is a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Though the building is located in Münchenbuchsee, its postal address is assigned to the neighboring municipality of Zollikofen...
.
The building of an LDS temple in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
was announced by
David O. McKayDavid Oman McKay was the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , serving from 1951 until his death...
, the ninth president of the LDS Church, on February 17, 1955. With its completion in 1958, it was the first temple built by the LDS Church in the
Southern HemisphereThe Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is south of the equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball'...
and the second to be built outside of the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
A groundbreaking ceremony and site dedication were held on December 21, 1955. The site of the temple is on 86 acres, which includes the LDS-owned
Church College of New ZealandChurch College of New Zealand is a private secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand, that is operated by the Church Educational System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It has been scheduled to be closed in 2009.-History:...
, a secondary school for students aged twelve to eighteen. The temple is 44,212 square feet, has one ordinance room, three sealing rooms, and a baptistery. The spire rises to a height of 157 feet. The Hamilton New Zealand Temple was built entirely by church labour
missionariesThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over fifty thousand full-time missionaries worldwide, as of June 2007...
who volunteered all of their time. Local members supported these workers with money, food, and lodging.
Hugh B. BrownHugh Brown Brown was an attorney, educator and author and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
, then an
Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve ApostlesAssistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, commonly shortened to Assistant to the Twelve or Assistant to the Twelve Apostles, was a priesthood calling in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1941 and 1976...
, placed the ceremonial cornerstone of the temple on December 22, 1956. The temple was open for public tours for 23 days prior to the dedication. During this time about 112,500 people toured the temple. The Hamilton New Zealand Temple was dedicated by David O. McKay on April 20-22 1958. The Hamilton Temple serves Latter-day Saints in New Zealand and nearby
South PacificAustralasia is a region of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes . He derived it from the Latin for "south of Asia" and differentiated the...
islands.
According to
Mormon folkloreMormon folklore is a body of expressive culture unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members. It includes tales, oral history, popular beliefs, customs, music, jokes, and other traditions....
, the
MāoriThe Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand . The group probably arrived in southwestern Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300...
King
TāwhiaoTāwhiao I, Māori King , was leader of the Waikato tribes, the second Māori King and a religious visionary. He was a member of the Ngāti Mahuta iwi of Waikato....
accurately predicted the site of the Hamilton New Zealand Temple before his death in 1894.
See also
External links