Announcement of the Barcelona Spain Temple
President Russell M. Nelson, 17th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced the Barcelona Spain Temple on April 3, 2022, during the Sunday afternoon session of April 2022 general conference. A house of the Lord for this northeastern coastal city in Spain was one of 17 announced worldwide by the Church President — and the second for this southwestern European nation. The first temple for Spain was dedicated in Madrid in 1999.
The first Latter-day Saint converts in this Mediterranean nation were baptized during the 1950s and 1960s. However, nearly a century before, in 1874, Melitón González Trejo, an officer in the Spanish army, visited Utah and joined the Church. Trejo was instrumental in the translation of the Book of Mormon into Spanish. In 1968, the Church was recognized by Spain’s government, and missionary work officially began in this Mediterranean nation on the Iberian Peninsula.
Timeline of the Barcelona Spain Temple
The Barcelona Spain Temple was announced by Church President Russell M. Nelson on April 3, 2022. A site location was released by the Church on Jan. 9, 2023, for a house of the Lord to be constructed in Sant Cugat de Vallès, a municipality north of Barcelona. Details about the temple’s groundbreaking have not yet been released.
Architecture and Design of the Barcelona Spain Temple
According to site plans released by the Church on Jan. 9, 2023, the Barcelona Spain Temple will be a single-story building of approximately 27,500 square feet — about the size of the San Salvador El Salvador, Curitiba Brazil and Arequipa Peru temples. The edifice will stand on a 5.4-acre site in Sant Cugat de Vallès, a municipality north of Barcelona.
Architectural renderings of the house of the Lord show a tan exterior surrounded by arched windows. A two-level tower topped by a bronze-colored domed cupola with eight arched windows stands above the entrance of the building. Trees, shrubs and flower gardens will adorn the grounds, as well as patron housing, an arrival center and a distribution center.