The Salvador Brazil Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has its open-house period underway, with Church leaders hosting local media at the new house of the Lord on Monday, Aug. 19.
Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles led five Church general authorities who welcomed participating media representatives, took them on tours of the temple and answered their questions in one-on-one interviews. He was joined by four General Authority Seventies — Elder Mathias Held, an assistant executive director in the Church’s Temple Department; Elder Joni L. Koch, Brazil Area president; Elder Mark D. Eddy, first counselor in the area presidency; and Elder Ciro Schmeil, second counselor in the area presidency.
It was one of the Church’s two media days for new temples, with similar events and tours happening simultaneously more than 2,350 miles to the southwest on the opposite side of South America with the Mendoza Argentina Temple.
Monday’s media day begins a multiweek opening of the Salvador temple prior to its late October dedication. Included in the media day events was the release of interior and exterior images of the new house of the Lord located in the coastal Brazilian city named after the title of the Savior.
Invited guests have been welcomed to tour the temple after the media events, with a public open house then to run from Thursday, Aug. 22, through Saturday, Sept. 7, excluding Sundays.
Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the Salvador Brazil Temple — which will become the South American nation’s 11th operating house of the Lord — on Sunday, Oct. 20. The two sessions — at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. local time — will be broadcast to all units in the Salvador temple district.
Once dedicated, the house of the Lord in Salvador will be the Church’s 200th operating temple.
Monday’s opening in Salvador and the accompanying interior and exterior photographs were first published on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Temple background and details
President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for Salvador on Oct. 7, 2018, one of the 12 new locations for future houses of the Lord identified in the closing session of the October 2018 general conference.
When the temple’s groundbreaking — for Aug. 7, 2021 — was announced three months earlier, a first exterior rendering of the Salvador temple was released, on May 4. The temple is located at Av. Luís Viana Filho, 9636, in the Patamares area of Salvador.
Elder Adilson de Paula Parrella, a General Authority Seventy who was then president of the Church’s Brazil Area, presided over the temple’s groundbreaking, with Elder Joni L. Koch, also a General Authority Seventy and then first counselor in the area presidency, offering a prayer on the site and the construction process.
The new temple features architecture and designs reflecting the local area, such as the exterior architecture acknowledging the Portuguese religious and historical styles of the region and the stone flooring and grounds patterned after Portuguese mosaic paving.
The exterior concrete for the two-floor building with a central tower is clad with decorative stone from Brazil. Art glass windows feature the country’s red mandacaru flower, framed with blue borders and a color palette that includes green and tones representing the flora and fauna of the region.
The gardens of the temple grounds include trees, shrubs and perennial plants native to Brazil, with the interior doors and trimming made of the country’s jequitiba hardwood.
About the Church and its temples in Brazil
Nearly 1.5 million Latter-day Saints in more than 2,170 congregations reside in Brazil, with missionary work and Church operations dating back to 1928.
Brazil is home to 23 total temples dedicated, under construction or announced, including the São Paulo Brazil Temple, the first not only in Brazil but all of South America when it was dedicated in 1978.
Other dedicated and operating temples are in Belém, Brasília, Campinas, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife and Rio de Janeiro, with two temples under construction in Belo Horizonte and Ribeirão Preto. An additional nine temples are in planning and design in Brazil — in Florianópolis, Goiânia, João Pessoa, Maceió, Natal, Santos, São Paulo East, Teresina and Vitória.
Also, ground was broken Saturday, Aug. 17, for a house of the Lord in Londrina.
About the city of Salvador
Formerly known as São Salvador de Bahia de Todos os Santos (Holy Savior of the Bay of All Saints), Salvador was founded in 1549 by the Portuguese as the first capital of Brazil and is one of oldest colonial cities in the Americas.
Located along Brazil’s northeastern coast, it is the country’s fourth-largest city and is the capital of Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia. Serving as capital of Brazil from 1549 to 1763, Salvador features Portuguese colonial architecture, a tropical coastline as well as its blending of European, African and Amerindian cultures.
Salvador is currently in the Recife Brazil Temple district, with that temple located a little more than 500 miles away.
Salvador Brazil Temple
Location: Avenida Luís Viana Filho, Patamares, 9636 Salvador, Brazil.
Announced: Oct. 7, 2018, by President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church.
Groundbreaking: Aug. 7, 2021, presided over by Elder Adilson de Paula Parrella, a General Authority Seventy and then president of the Church’s Brazil Area, with Elder Joni L. Koch, also a General Authority Seventy and then first counselor in the area presidency, offering a prayer on the site and the construction process.
To be dedicated: Oct. 20, 2024, by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Property size: 4.6 acres.
Building size: 29,963 square feet.
Building height: 148 feet, 8 inches to the top of the spire.
Additional photos
