Elder Michael Cziesla recalls that when he grew up in northern Germany, his parents would travel more than 1,000 km to attend the Bern Switzerland Temple. Yet he said they would return with greater peace, patience and love at home — a feeling he also recognized in his first temple visit years later.
“The temple is a spiritual home — the house of our Lord Jesus Christ, where He invites us to learn from Him,” said Elder Cziesla, a General Authority Seventy and member of the Church’s Europe Central Area presidency.
He presided over the Saturday, Oct. 17, groundbreaking of the Vienna Austria Temple — to be the country’s first temple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Vienna is currently in the Frankfurt Germany Temple district, requiring a drive of seven or eight hours each way.
About 250 Church members, friends and local dignitaries gathered for the groundbreaking, according to a news release published Oct. 17 on the Church’s Europe Newsroom.
The ceremony was recorded in German, but it was also livestreamed in Croatian, Czech, English, Italian, Polish, Serbian, Slovak and Slovene.
Elder Cziesla paid tribute to those who prepared the way for a temple, saying, “Today, we stand on the foundation of their faith.”
Many neighbors and friends of the Church will see the temple and wonder what happens inside, he said. “I hope the answer will be found not only in the beauty of the building but, above all, in the lives of the people who visit this house.”
Elder Cziesla said that the joy about Austria’s first temple ultimately ties back to the Savior. “I look forward to this temple with all my heart because Jesus Christ is my joy — and because this will be His house.”
Bearing witness of Christ, a choir during the ceremony sang “Schönster Herr Jesus,” or “Beautiful Savior,” testifying that “Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer and brings to all the world His love.”
The Vienna temple and Church in Austria
On April 4, 2021, then-Church President Russell M. Nelson announced Austria’s first temple, for its capital city, Vienna.
It was one of 20 temple locations he identified in April 2021 general conference, alongside two other temples for Europe — in Brussels, Belgium, and Oslo, Norway — both of which will also be the first in each nation.
As previously announced, the Vienna temple is planned as a multistory building of approximately 15,300 square feet. It will be built on a 0.8-acre site at Silbergasse 2, Vienna, Austria.
Of Europe’s 26 temples in various stages of operation, construction or planning, four are in the construction phase, in addition to the Vienna temple: the Birmingham England Temple (since March 2025), Budapest Hungary Temple (June 2025), Brussels Belgium Temple (November 2025) and Barcelona Spain Temple (September 2026).
The restored gospel was first preached in Austria in 1865, but Church growth was sporadic because of legal restrictions and conflicts, so the missionaries left later that year. In September 1955, Austria granted official government recognition to the Church.
The country’s first stake was organized in Vienna in 1980. A second was organized in Salzburg in 1997.
Today, Austria is home to more than 4,700 members of the Church, in 17 wards and branches.
