Announcement of the Budapest Hungary Temple
President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for Budapest, Hungary, on April 7, 2019, one of eight new temple locations he identified in the Sunday afternoon session of April 2019 general conference. It will be Hungary’s first Latter-day Saint temple and the 16th in Europe, announced just 12 months after a temple was announced for Russia.
When the announcement was made, Budapest Hungary Mission President Kyle B. Hettinger — who was watching a livestream of the conference session with his wife just before midnight local time — said his mobile phone came to life.
“We received many immediate emails, texts and social media contacts about the wonderful blessing of a temple here,” he said. “Right now, the temple that the majority of members go to in Hungary and western Romania is the Freiberg temple in Germany. The faithful, pioneering Saints will be thrilled. We are excitedly anticipating the intensified progress of the Lord’s work here.”
A former Eastern Bloc country, Hungary was home to more than 5,000 Latter-day Saints at the time of the temple’s announcement. While having a small presence in the country since the late 1800s, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints didn’t receive long-lasting legal recognition in Hungary until 1988.
Ground will be broken for the Budapest Hungary Temple on June 21, 2025, with Elder Rubén V. Alliaud — a General Authority Seventy and president of the Europe Central Area — presiding.
Timeline of the Budapest Hungary Temple
The Budapest Hungary Temple was announced April 7, 2019, by Church President Russell M. Nelson. Ground will be broken for the temple on June 21, 2025, with Elder Rubén V. Alliaud presiding.
Architecture and Design of the Budapest Hungary Temple
According to site plans released Oct. 9, 2023, the Budapest Hungary Temple will be a single-story building of approximately 18,000 square feet. It will be built on a 5.92-acre site at the northwest intersection of Kocsis Sandor ut and Borsikafu utca, Harsánylejtő, Budapest, Hungary.
Architectural renderings of the house of the Lord show an off-white exterior surrounded by rectangular windows. A four-tiered tower stands above the center of the building. Bushes and flower gardens adorn the grounds.