With another temple recently dedicated in Peru’s capital city of Lima, two more future houses of the Lord in the west-central South American country now have official sites.
The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released site locations for the Cusco Peru and Iquitos Peru temples.
The sites were first published on Monday, Jan. 29, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The two houses of the Lord will welcome Latter-day Saints in two diversely different locations in Peru — one high in the Andes Mountains and the other on the banks of the Amazon River.
Cusco Peru Temple
Planned as a temple of 9,950 square feet, the Cusco Peru Temple will sit on a 2.48-acre site at Avenida Arcopata 452, Cusco, Cusco, Peru.
President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for Cusco at the conclusion of the April 2022 general conference, one of 17 new locations for future houses of the Lord.
At an elevation of 11,152 feet (3,399 meters) above sea level, Cusco is in southern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes Mountains. Once the capital of the Inca Emprise, Cusco serves as a gateway to Machu Picchu and other archaeological sites in the region.
Iquitos Peru Temple
The Iquitos Peru Temple, projected to be a 20,000-square-foot building, will be built on a 1.75-acre site at Calle San Marcos 117-137, San Juan Bautista, Maynas, Loreto, Peru.
President Nelson included Iquitos as one of the 15 locations for new temples he announced at the April 2023 general conference.
A port city located along the Amazon River in northeast Peru, Iquitos is the world’s largest city unreachable by ground transportation, only accessible by the river and by air.
The Church and its temples in Peru
Prior to 1956, Latter-day Saint families living in Peru held group meetings, but no organized missionary work was done. A branch in Lima was organized in July 1956 by Elder Henry D. Moyle of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with four missionaries arriving a month later.
The Andes Mission, headquartered in Lima, was established three years later, with five branches and 300 members then in Peru.
When the first stake was organized in Lima in 1970, membership was 10,771.
Peru today is home to 630,000 Latter-day Saints in nearly 780 congregations.
The first house of the Lord in the country is the Lima Peru Temple, dedicated in 1984 by President Gordon B. Hinckley, then a counselor in the First Presidency. Other dedicated temples are in Trujillo (2015), Arequipa (2019) and a second in the capital city, the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple, dedicated earlier this month.
Besides the Cusco and Iquitos temples, three others have been announced and are in planning — but without sites — in Chiclayo, Huancayo and Piura. The five in planning have all been announced over the past 22 months.
