The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced plans to renovate the Orlando Florida Temple, which will close in July 2024.
The renovation announcement was first published Monday, Feb. 12, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
It was one of the day’s several temple announcements, along with the dedication and open house dates for the new Casper Wyoming Temple, the time for the sole rededication session for the renovated Manti Utah Temple, and the exterior renderings of the Natal Brazil and Teresina Brazil temples.
Dedicated nearly three full decades ago, the Orlando temple is one of five houses of the Lord in the state of Florida, with the Fort Lauderdale Florida Temple the only other operating temple following its 2014 dedication.
A third temple in Tallahassee has been under construction since June 2021, with additional temples announced for Tampa and Jacksonville.
The Church currently has four of its houses of the Lord closed for extensive renovations — the Salt Lake, San Diego California, Stockholm Sweden and Kona Hawaii temples. The Manti Utah Temple is awaiting its upcoming open house and April 21, 2024, rededication following its lengthy renovation.
Also, the Provo Utah Temple will be closing later this month for its announced reconstruction, with the Manhattan New York Temple closing early next month for its planned renovation. And a soon-to-be reconstructed and relocated Anchorage Alaska Temple is set to begin in early 2024, but that project will proceed while the original and adjacent Anchorage temple remains in operation.
With a house of the Lord announced for Orlando in 1990, the Orlando Florida temple was dedicated in October 1994 by President Howard W. Hunter.
Missionaries first arrived in Florida in 1845, with the Church’s first congregation in the state created in 1847 in the Big Bend area of northern Florida. Today, the state is home to more than 168,000 Latter-day Saints comprising more than 280 congregations.