Editor’s note: Because of global time zones and the international date line, Church News coverage of the Auckland New Zealand Temple’s media day on Monday, Feb. 24, is being published on Sunday, Feb. 23, in many parts of the world.
Doors have been opened to the new Auckland New Zealand Temple, with a series of tours of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ most recently completed house of the Lord and second temple in New Zealand beginning with a media day on Monday, Feb. 24.
Media representatives gathered for a 10 a.m. news conference Monday with general and local Church leaders prior to media tours of the temple, with invited guests then scheduled to tour the house of the Lord through Wednesday, Feb. 26. The Auckland temple will then begin its public open house, with tours running from Feb. 27, through March 22, excluding Sundays.
Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the Auckland temple on April 13. The single dedicatory session at 10 a.m. local time will be broadcast to all units within the temple district.
Welcoming media representatives Monday to the temple were the Pacific Area presidency of Elder Peter F. Meurs, Elder Taniela B. Wakolo and Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi, as well as Elder Steven R. Bangerter and Elder K. Brett Nattress, both assistant executive directors in the Temple Department. All five are General Authority Seventies, and the Church’s Pacific Area is headquartered in Auckland.
In conjunction with Monday’s media day, the Church released exterior and interior photos of the Auckland temple on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Auckland temple dates and site
Announced on Oct. 7, 2018, by Church President Russell M. Nelson, the Auckland temple was among 12 new temples identified in the closing session of the October 2018 general conference.
Construction on this temple began with its groundbreaking on June 13, 2020. Elder Ian S. Ardern, a General Authority Seventy and then president of the Pacific Area, presided at the event and offered a prayer on the site and the construction process.
Built in the Goodwood Heights suburb of southeast Auckland, the temple stands between the New Zealand Missionary Training Center and an existing Church meetinghouse. The trio of buildings all overlook the Auckland Southern Motorway/State Highway 1 that leads to the country’s first house of the Lord, the Hamilton New Zealand Temple.
Designs and features
The multilevel building of approximately 45,455 square feet features design motifs that include New Zealand flora — kōwhai flower, pōhutukawa tree, manuka tree, kauri tree and silver fern — as well as the blue and green colors of the pāua shell, with accents of gold. Designs also feature Māori basket weave patterns.
Flooring provides visual ties to New Zealand, with green quartzite stone reminiscent of New Zealand jade (pounamu) and the white calacatta caldia marble calling to mind the word “Aotearoa,” the Indigenous Māori name for New Zealand, meaning “land of the long white clouds.”
The art-glass designs reflect the same New Zealand flora, along with blue, green, yellow and clear textured glass. Also, the millwork and doors feature Tasmanian oak, a native Australian eucalyptus wood.
Landscaping features 250 large trees, including native kōwhai, nīkau palms and pōhutukawa trees. Two of the latter were transplanted from a site in central Auckland, where they would have been cut down. The grounds also include shrub gardens, seasonally rotated flowers and lawns.
The Church and its temples in New Zealand
Around 118,000 Church members in more than 226 congregations reside in the South Pacific island nation, with the first Latter-day Saint baptized in New Zealand in 1854. Many Māori recognized the efforts of Latter-day Saint missionaries as the fulfillment of earlier prophecies by Māori prophets, and they embraced the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
Located about 60 miles (97 kilometers) to the southeast, the Hamilton temple — dedicated in 1958 — was the first house of the Lord in the Southern Hemisphere. A third in the country, the Wellington New Zealand Temple, was announced in 2022, with its site released later that year and its exterior rendering in June 2024.
Auckland New Zealand Temple
Location: 19 Redoubt Road, Goodwood Heights, Auckland 2105, New Zealand
Announced: Oct. 7, 2018, by Church President Russell M. Nelson
Groundbreaking: June 13, 2020, with Elder Ian S. Ardern, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Pacific Area, presiding
To be dedicated: April 13, 2025, by Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Property size: 4.6 hectares (11.4 acres)
Building size: 4,223 square meters (45,455 square feet)
Building height: 53.9 meters (177 feet) to the top of the spire
