The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the date of the groundbreaking ceremony for the Santiago West Chile Temple.
Elder Alan R. Walker, a General Authority Seventy and a counselor in the South America South Area presidency, will preside at Aug. 17, 2024, groundbreaking at the site of the second house of the Lord in the Chilean capital city of Santiago.
Attendance for the event will be by invitation, with additional details to be released prior to the groundbreaking date.
In addition to the scheduled groundbreaking, the First Presidency also released the exterior rendering of the Santiago West Chile Temple. The date and rendering were first published Monday, June 24, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The groundbreaking service is one of three scheduled for the Church that day, with groundbreakings previously announced for the Austin Texas and Londrina Brazil temples.
Every effort is made to construct temples in an expeditious manner. At times, various reasons may delay a temple’s completion and dedication.
President Russell M. Nelson announced the temple — the South American country’s fourth house of the Lord at the time — during the October 2021 general conference, one of 13 temples identified that day.
The temple’s site location was released on Dec. 19, 2022, with the single-story building of approximately 12,500 square feet to be constructed at Primo de Rivera 1551, Comuna de Maipu, Santiago, Chile.
The nation’s first house of the Lord as well as the first in Spanish-speaking South America — the Santiago Chile Temple — was dedicated in September 1983, followed by the Concepción Chile Temple, which was dedicated by President Nelson in October 2018. The Antofagasta Chile Temple is currently under construction following its November 2020 groundbreaking.
A fifth house of the Lord in Chile — the Viña del Mar Chile Temple — was announced in 2023 and is in planning and design.
More than 600,000 Latter-day Saints comprise over 570 congregations in Chile.
