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Washington DC Temple
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THE WASHINGTON DC TEMPLE
The Washington D.C. Temple, formerly known as the Washington Temple, is the 18th constructed and 16th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
When the Church decided to build a Temple in Washington DC, they foresaw that such a building would be a symbol of the Church to the government of the United States as well as to the ambassadors of the world that lived and visited there. Therefore, the Church decided to build a monumental temple that will instantly be recognized as a Mormon building. Since the Salt Lake City Temple was the most recognized symbol of the Church, it was used as the basis for new, larger six-spired temple. In addition to this, the temple was designed to be similar in style and form to the Salt Lake Temple so that it would be easily recognized as a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One feature of the Temple is that it appears to not have any windows. Though from the inside, the thinly cut marble appears translucent. At a completion ceremony, the first presidency buried a metal box with historical items near a corner of the Temple. During the first week of the temple, open house government officials and diplomats from around the world were taken on special tours around this structure. The open house continued for seven weeks and over 750,000 people went to see the Washington D.C. Temple. The large number of people who attended the open house ceremonies was due mostly to the large amount of coverage that the Temple and Church received as the Temple neared completion. Articles were printed in Time, Newsweek, and World Report. A large conference was also held to introduce the Washington DC Temple and Spencer W. Kimball, the Prophet and President of the Church at the time. There were high demands for the tickets for the open house and those tickets were gone before the first day of tours and times were extended to accommodate more people.
The architectural outcome stopped traffic on the Capitol Beltway until the locals there became used to seeing the shining white castle. The major catchy look and the brilliant white color of the temple complemented with a conspicuous location along the Capitol Beltway made the infrastructure an instantly recognizable landmark. The vast cradle of the forest emphasizes the temple’s prominence more. Curves in the beltway cause an effect for traffic traveling along the outer loop lanes, whereby the temple seems to have this illusion of popping up out of nowhere directly in front. As the traffic continues to approach nearer, the temple seems to grow in size as the tree line opens up.
A mysterious graffiti, made by an anonymous person, which says “Surrender Dorothy” is said to be related to the Mormon Temple. This phrase is visible from the eastern side of a railroad bridge near the Washington DC temple. This is the second of the three bridges over the Beltway with the Seminary Road preceding it and the Linden Lane after it. The Washington Temple is the first temple since Los Angeles, and the last, to include an Assembly Hall.
Located in Kensington, Maryland, it was built with a modern six-spire design, with the three towers to the east representing the Melchizedek Priesthood leadership, and the three towers to the west representing the Aaronic Priesthood leadership. The central eastern tower reaches a height of 288 feet or 88 m, which makes it the tallest of any LDS temple. It is the first LDS Temple in the United States east of the Mississippi River since 1846.
It was estimated that it would cost fifteen million dollars to build this temple and members of the Church that would be attending the temple were asked to help in providing at least four and a half million dollars. Local members eventually raised six million dollars. This religious infrastructure has a total floor area of 160,000 square feet or 15,000 square miles. Ten dedicatory sessions were held for the Washington D.C. Temple between November 19 and November 22, 1974. Over 40,000 members were able to attend the dedicatory services. The Washington D.C. temple has a total floor area of 160,000 square feet (15,000 m2), making it the third largest LDS temple. It holds six ordinance rooms and fourteen sealing rooms. Building of the Washington D.C. Temple was announced on December 7, 1968 followed by a groundbreaking ceremony on the same day. A very large plot of land on a wooded hill was bought in 1962 and only eleven acres were cleared for the temple. The rest of the land was left untouched to give the Temple a remote feeling.