Dedication of the Bountiful Utah Temple
When President Howard W. Hunter offered a dedicatory prayer on the Bountiful Utah Temple, the overcast skies parted, bathing the celestial room in celestial rays. The temple was dedicated from Jan. 8 to Jan. 14, 1995, during 28 sessions. President Hunter — President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — attended six sessions and spoke in four, then Apostles read his dedicatory prayer in later sessions.
During the seven days, 49 general authorities spoke in at least one dedicatory session, including all members in the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Presiding Bishopric. A total of 201,655 Latter-day Saints participated in the dedication of this house of the Lord.
The first session saw around 10,000 attendees, with 2,000 in the temple and 8,000 in five other locations: the Bountiful Regional Center, the Salt Lake Tabernacle, the Ogden Tabernacle, the Brigham City Tabernacle and the Logan Tabernacle.
Over the week, 28 choirs performed, one during each dedicatory session, with each of the temple district’s 28 stakes in charge of a day. The choirs were organized in September 1994, and they practiced almost every Sunday evening for four months.
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “We humbly pray that Thou wilt accept this edifice and let Thy blessings be upon it. Let Thy Spirit attend and guide all who officiate herein, that holiness will prevail in every room. May all who enter have clean hands and pure hearts. May they be built up in their faith and depart with a feeling of peace, praising Thy holy name.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Bountiful Utah Temple here.
Timeline of the Bountiful Utah Temple
A temple was announced for Bountiful, Utah, on Feb. 2, 1990, via a letter by the First Presidency. Ground was broken on May 2, 1992, with Church President Ezra Taft Benson presiding over the ceremony.
After an open house from Nov. 5 to Dec. 17, 1994, the Bountiful Utah Temple was dedicated by Church President Howard W. Hunter from Jan. 8 to Jan. 14, 1995, in 28 sessions.
Architecture and Design of the Bountiful Utah Temple
The Bountiful temple has an area of 104,000 square feet and stands on a site of nine acres. The structure is made of flat roofs of various heights, and its exterior is made of bethel white granite. In front of the temple is a trail of archways leading to the entrance, and a tall, arched window can also be seen on the front facade.
Atop the temple is a rectangular tower with two rectangular pillars on each corner. A thin, arched window adorns each of the four sides, and a spire above the tower leads up to a point. Inside the temple are a baptistry, a celestial room, four ordinance rooms and eight sealing rooms.