ST. GEORGE — Following four years of work, the newly renovated St. George Utah Temple is on the cusp of opening for public tours prior to its rededication as a “House of the Lord.”

“We hope we can invite you to look above the facts, look above the building, to look above the brick and mortar, to look beyond your curiosity and learn about what we do and why we do it,” Elder Enrich Kopischke, an assistant executive director of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ temple department, told a crowd of journalists who assembled Wednesday morning.

Media representatives from across Utah and elsewhere gathered at the St. George Temple visitor center for a media day. Representatives of the LDS church hosted the tour of the newly renovated temple ahead of the public. Reporters learned that the St. George Temple, and temples in general, are very important and significant in the lives of the Latter-day Saints.

If you really want to understand the Latter-day Saints, Kopischke said, the best way to do that is by understanding why do what they do in their temples.

Work on the St. George Temple began in the fall of 1871 and was completed and dedicated in April 1877. Since then the temple has been renovated several times, the last major renovation, before the current one, taking place in the 1970s.

The temple closed for renovations in November 2019 and is one of three popular pioneer-era temples the church closed for this purpose. The other two are the Manti Utah Temple and Salt Lake City Utah Temple.

The focus of the latest renovation of the St. George Temple has been on updating and strengthening existing infrastructure, as well as demolishing and rebuilding the Temple’s western wing and northern annex. Both have been rebuilt to resemble the 19th-century architecture of the temple. The outdoor temple grounds and landscaping have also been overhauled.

Some interior elements of the temple have also been renovated to match how it looked in the late 1870s.

“I think the pioneers who built this would be pleased with our work,” Andy Kirby, director of the church’s historic temple renovations, said in an interview shared with the media by the church.

A place of many firsts

Before and after touring the temple, gathering media heard from church representatives about the temple and why the Latter-day Saints build temples.

The St. George Temple is the longest operating temple in the church overall and was also the first built in Utah following the church’s move from Nauvoo, Illinois, to what would eventually become Utah. Prior to that exodus, the Latter-day Saints were without a temple for around 30 years.

Many of the ceremonies that take place in LDS temples across the globe also have their origins in the St. George Temple.

It is also the first temple in which a primary doctrine of the church – its “work for the dead” as it is sometimes known – began.

“This (temple) has a legacy in the church and it is a temple among temples for those reasons,” Elder Kevin W. Person, the church’s president of the Utah Area, said.

Click here to learn more about St. George Temple history.

Tour highlights and what happens in LDS temples

The baptistery

Kopischke served as the media tour guide as they left the visitor center and were taken to their first stop – the temple’s baptistery.

Within the baptistery and throughout the tour were signs in English and Spanish giving brief explanations of the purpose behind the rooms people were guided through. While the tour for media Wednesday was guided, it was noted that the public tours, which begin Sept. 15, will not be.

Unlike regular baptisms that occur in the church’s chapels, Kopischke said the baptisms performed in the temple were on behalf of the dead.

This practice is connected to the church’s longstanding doctrine related to the “eternal nature of the family,” which teaches a family unit can be “sealed” together for eternity in the afterlife. The eternal binding of the family can extend back through the generations, which is why Latter-day Saints place heavy emphasis on genealogical research. It allows them to find ancestors whose names they can take to a temple where proxy ceremonies on behalf of those ancestors can be performed.

This process begins with a proxy baptism for the dead in much the same manner as it is for the living.

The church’s proxy ceremonies and doctrine of the eternal nature of the family, and the temple’s central focus that work, was repeatedly emphasized throughout the tour.

“We are able to take the blessings of the temple and share them across time for the living and the dead,” Elder Matthew S. Holland, the son of Elder Jeffery R. Holland, said as he accompanied the tour.

Matthew S. Holland, who is a member of the church’s General Authority Seventies and a part of its communications department, attended the media day in place of his father who was recently reported to be experiencing medical issues. Jeffery R. Holland is one of the church’s apostles and is a St. George native.

The new annex and temple interior

The group left the baptistery soon after and caught glimpses of the new landscaping on the temple’s eastern side as they were sent to the rebuilt northern annex that serves as the primary entry to the temple.

Before entering, reporters and those accompanying them had booties put over their shoes by volunteers before being allowed to enter. Those volunteers are among the estimated 25,000 volunteers from local LDS congregations taking part in the upcoming temple tours and open house.

Once inside the temple, among the sights that greeted the tour were the many art pieces and murals placed throughout the building.

Kopischke said there were over 230 art pieces within the temple, the majority of which depicted Jesus Christ in some way, or displayed scenes from LDS history or events from the Book of Mormon or the Bible.

“Most of the artwork we have in the temple points to the Savior Jesus Christ and what he has done for us,” Kopischke said.

Some murals that adorn the walls were created by local artists, he added.

Among the art – which church representatives said is meant to help portray the fact the church is a worldwide church and teaches that the Almighty pays no mind to elements of race or ethnicity – were paintings featuring people of color interacting with Christ.

For those familiar with the interior of the temple prior to its renovation, it has been described as a new building beyond the rebuilt annex. A noticeable change for some will likely be the grand staircase that reaches from the bottom floor to the top of the temple where the assembly hall sits.

A moment of quiet reflection

The tour came to a central part of the temple known as the celestial room, which represents heaven where God and Christ dwell. Before entering, Kopischke asked the group to be seated and silent for a few minutes to reflect and take in the feeling of the temple.

From there, the group was led into one of the temple’s many sealing rooms where marriages and the sealing of families take place. A part of the sealing ceremony involves newly married couples or family members standing in for the dead kneeling on either side of an altar set in the middle of the room.

It is a scene that made Matthew Holland emotional when asked by Kopischke to share his feelings about it.

“There is no more sacred a spot on Earth than this altar in this room,” he said, adding that it was in the St. George Temple that his parents were sealed and he and his wife were sealed as well. It also had added significance for the man as he recounted   and the belief he has in the church’s doctrine of eternal families.

“This place unlocks the greatest doctrine that God has to give,” he said. “It means everything.”

Open house and tour info

The temple’s open house and tours begin Friday, Sept. 15, and run through Nov. 11, excluding Sundays, and will run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

It is recommended that those who wish to take the tour make reservations ahead of time.

Around 500,000 people are estimated to visit the temple before is it rededicated on Dec. 10. As of Wednesday, church representatives said 200,000 people have already made reservations for the open house and tour.

Details about the open house and tour and where to make reservations online can be found here.

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