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Mesa Temple
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MESA ARIZONA TEMPLE
The Mesa Arizona Temple, formerly known as the Arizona Temple, is the seventh operating Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This was the first LDS Temple built in Arizona; its architecture was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style architecture. This was also the first one to present an endowment in a language other than English. Located just east of the original Mesa Townsite, the Mesa Arizona Temple secures a historic district, which has predominantly retained its residential character. Moreover, this is the first of the five LDS Temples which were built in the state, one of the first temples planned and have built by the church. The Mesa Arizona temple was designed around a grand staircase that leads to the Celestial Room, occupying the highest level of the Temple. Carved friezes, which are the unique feature attributes of the temple, decorate each corner of the top of the temple, depicting the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy that the Lord would gather His people in the last days from the four corners of the earth. The frieze, which is a ribbon of carved decoration, runs around the building under its cornice, just above the columns and deep-set windows of the façade. The frieze represents a grand parade of converts leaving their old homes and gathering to Zion. This is not a generic line of all kinds of people, the figures represent specific nationalities. A public visitors' center on the north wing of the temple, staffed by Mormon missionaries, shares the meticulously polished grounds of the temple, which features a cactus garden and large reflection pools. This is where people can enjoy seeing and observing murals, videos, displays and other activities. This part of the Temple also houses a replica of a statue of Jesus Christ called “The Christus” which was made by the Danish artist, Bertel Thorvaldsen. The Easter season brings thousands of guests to the temple grounds every year to watch the Mesa Arizona Easter pageant: Jesus the Christ, the largest annual outdoor Easter pageant in the world, which attracts over 150,000 people annually. The public is welcome to walk in on the temple and enjoy the well kept gardens. The grounds of the Mesa Temple are converted to an elegant nativity display which is made more stunning by the accent of thousands of Christmas lights during the coming of the Christmas season.
The LDS Temple in Mesa was announced in 1919, only a few short years after the state of Arizona achieved its autonomy, it was one of the 3 temples announced and constructed to serve outlying Mormon settlements in the early part of the century; the other two were constructed in Laie Hawaii and Cardston Alberta. These first three temples were said to share an architecture that is drastically differs from the typical spired, crenulated pioneer temples of the 19th century. Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement and an important religious and political figure during the 1830s and 1840s, described the boxy, spireless shape as resembling Solomon’s temple. These temples had also been compared to Herod’s temple and were described as the reminiscent of Mesoamerican buildings. While none of the three settlements were particularly large in their own right, they were considered prospering centers of large Mormon populations.
The Mesa Temple was closed in February 1974, for extensive remodeling, equipped the ordinance rooms with motion-picture presentation of the endowment sessions, and that added a new entrance and an additional 17,000 square feet, providing much larger dressing rooms and increasing the number of sealing rooms. The Mesa Arizona Temple was the first temple to reopen to the public for an open house prior to a rededication. Instead of a formal open house, tours were offered during the last two years of construction of the Mesa Arizona Temple to any interested visitors. The re-dedication was held on April 16, 1975 by Spencer W. Kimball, the twelfth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1973 until his death. For many years, the Mesa Arizona Temple was known as the "Lamanite Temple," for it was the destination of annual temple excursions for Hispanic and Native American members of the Church, especially the Mexican Saints.
