Dedication of the Brasília Brazil Temple
The first capital city of Brazil was Salvador, where government leaders resided between 1549 and 1763. The capital was then moved south to Rio de Janeiro for another 200 years. Then in 1960, country leaders created Brasília, a new city designed to look like an airplane when viewed from above, to become the new capital.
This new city, though apart from Brazil’s 80% of population along the 4,500-mile-long eastern coastline, was intentionally built in the geographic center of the country. On Sept. 17, 2023, the country received a new “center” — a spiritual center — for Latter-day Saints to make and remember covenants and perform ordinance work for their predecessors.
“As we bring our ancestors beyond the veil the holy ordinances they desire, and as the holy endowment is presented to us each time we are here, the eyes of our understanding are opened,” said Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who dedicated the Brasília Brazil Temple in Portuguese, at the dedication. “We better see the purposes of our being on earth.”
Elder Andersen, who had also served in the Brazil South Area presidency from 2001 to 2005, explained that those who enter the temple “enter a new world.” He said, “This is the house of the Lord. It is a sacred place — unlike anywhere else. It is nestled between heaven and earth.” His wife, Sister Kathy Andersen, shared a similar sentiment at the dedication: “In the temple, we feel a peace not available anywhere else in the world.”
The Apostle and his wife were joined by Elder Mark D. Eddy, a General Authority Seventy and second counselor in the Brazil Area presidency; and Elder Kevin R. Duncan, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Temple Department.
Elder Eddy began serving as second counselor just a month and a half before the dedication. “Brazil will never be the same after the dedication of this temple,” he said at the ceremony. “And we should not be the same, either.”
Suzana Ekert de Melo, a Latter-day Saint from the Jardim Satélite Ward in the São José dos Campos Brazil South Stake in São Paulo, served a mission in Brasília in 1977. Several decades later, she attended the Brasília temple dedication and told the Church News that the temple is directly linked with the plan of salvation.
She said: “To know that my family can be eternal and that all the people I love, who passed on from this life, and who I thought I had lost but are not? That is what the plan of salvation taught me.”
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “How grateful we are that this magnificent and hallowed structure will stand as a testament to Thee and Thy Beloved Son in this city of Brazil where the leaders of the nation meet and where laws influencing the freedom and prosperity of the people are established. ... Because Thy house is here, let there be an added goodness, honesty, peacemaking and prayer in the functioning of the government of this land.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Brasília Brazil Temple here.
Timeline of the Brasília Brazil Temple
The Brasília temple was announced April 2, 2017, by President Thomas S. Monson. The groundbreaking and site dedication were held on Sept. 26, 2020, and presided over by Elder Adilson de Paula Parrella, president of the Brazil Area. Elder Neil L. Andersen dedicated the temple on Sept. 17, 2023.
Architecture and Design of the Brasília Brazil Temple
The single-storied Brasília Brazil Temple, with an area of roughly 25,000 square feet, has multiple arches around the exterior to pay homage to mid-20th century Brazilian modernism. The exterior is made of sparkling white Brazilian marble, and reflecting pools with ceramic tiles sit in front of the edifice.
The floors inside the temple are covered in porcelain and Bahia blue stone tiles, carpets made in Brazil, and Paraná white marble, which is native to Brazil. Light-brown Jequitibá wood, native to Brazil, is used in furniture throughout the building. The handrails of the baptismal font are made of transparent glass, with a metal frame and gold matte finish.
The temple was built on a 6-acre site located in the Federal District of Brasília, the capital of Brazil. Thousands of shrubs, perennials and over 200 trees fill the grounds, including shade trees, evergreens, flowering trees and palm trees. A new meetinghouse and patron housing facility were built alongside the house of the Lord.
Interior Photos of the Brasília Brazil Temple
