Anchorage Alaska Temple


The Anchorage Alaska Temple is the 54th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The temple serves church members in Alaska and the Yukon Territory.

History

In 1997, church president Gordon B. Hinckley, announced the building of smaller LDS temples. The first of these smaller temples was built in Monticello, Utah and the second in Anchorage, Alaska. After the groundbreaking of the Anchorage Alaska Temple in 1998, the construction of this temple took only nine months.
The west side of the Anchorage Alaska Temple features the seven stars of the Big Dipper pointing to the North Star, a symbol found on the Alaskan flag and on the Salt Lake Temple. The temple walls are covered with gray and white quartz-flecked granite, and the temple design incorporates Alaskan motifs, such as likenesses of fir trees on the doorway pilasters. The stained glass is reminiscent of water, and stylized evergreens with patterns resembling native designs are used to adorn interior furnishings.
Hinckley dedicated the temple on January 9, 1999, with more than six thousand members from as far away as the Yukon braving the freezing weather. After remodeling that nearly doubled the size of the temple, Hinckley rededicated the temple on February 8, 2004. The Anchorage Alaska Temple now has a total floor area of, two ordinance rooms, and one sealing room.
In 2020, the Anchorage Alaska Temple was closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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