1987 Dedication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple
After Church President Spencer W. Kimball announced a temple for Frankfurt, Germany, on April 1, 1981, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sought land for the temple on 14 different sites in West Germany. Land in Germany was difficult to obtain at the time, but the Church hoped to acquire a site in Friedrichsdorf, Frankfurt, which held an abandoned noodle factory.
Karl Günther Petry, one of the Friedrichsdorf City Council members at the time, traveled with his political allies to Bern, Switzerland, to see the temple there and learn more about the Church in order to inform their decision on the construction of the Frankfurt Germany Temple. After a warm welcome by the local Latter-day Saints and glowing recommendations from other local denominations, the group decided to approve the temple.
“We returned with the conviction that we would be right to allow the Mormons to build their temple here,” he told the Church News nearly 40 years later. “... I have no regrets about the temple at all.”
With the city council’s approval, ground was broken on the future site of the Frankfurt Germany Temple on July 1, 1985.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, second counselor in the First Presidency, presided over the groundbreaking ceremony. He told the faithful German Latter-day Saints at the event that it was a “day of prophecy fulfilled, a day of prayers answered, a day of dreams come true.”
A total of 12,570 Church members from Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and France attended the dedication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple from Aug. 28-30, 1987.
“We had a wonderful, warm feeling inside that is hard to explain,” said Michael Gruse of the Dahlem Ward, Berlin Stake, and one of the thousands of Europeans who were blessed by the new house of the Lord.
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “Thy restored word was first taught in this nation 146 years ago. Since then, tens of thousands of missionaries, at untold sacrifice, have borne testimony to the people of Europe. Hundreds of thousands have responded to their message. How grateful we are to be counted among that number. This city, where stands this holy house, has for centuries shown tolerance for those seeking freedom to worship according to the dictates of conscience. We thank Thee for the hospitality of those of this community who have welcomed Thy people and Thy temple.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Frankfurt Germany Temple here.
2019 Rededication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple
The temple closed Sept. 7, 2015, for major renovations, and although the renovations were initially expected to take just under two years, the temple wasn’t fully completed until September 2019.
Just before the temple reopened in 2019, Juleen Metzner, wife of Frankfurt Germany Stake President Manuel Metzner, said, “I hope we will never take this blessing for granted,” adding, “We are absolutely thrilled to have our temple back!”
Karl Günther Petry, one of the Friedrichsdorf City Council members who approved the temple site acquisition in the early 1980s, still served on the city council at the time of the temple’s rededication.
“I find it more beautiful than it was before,” he said after touring the renovated temple. “The baptistry is very different. I find it much prettier. The landscaping is wonderful. It’s a successful central point of Friedrichsdorf.”
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who served as a stake president in Frankfurt when the temple was first dedicated, rededicated the temple on Oct. 20, 2019. During his time as stake president, he set apart and released a young full-time missionary in Frankfurt named Mark Harth, who would later serve as the stake president of the Friedrichsdorf Germany Stake.
“It is a very special gift from God to us that we are able to hear and listen to the words of an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ in our native language,” President Harth said at the Frankfurt temple rededication.
Elder Uchtdorf also spoke of the rededication as a special blessing, saying the temple “is a place of unity for those who are members of the Church, in that they come and unite again with the teachings of Jesus Christ. So for Germany to have this temple in its heart, in this location, is a marvelous and wonderful thing.”
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “O Father, bless Thy people, that this day of celebration and worship might be a new beginning in building up Thy kingdom. The divine blessings of the restored gospel are desperately needed in the nations of the world. Open the windows of heaven, and shower down upon the Saints and all people of good intentions an increased desire to seek goodness at all times and in all places and then to do it. Renew their willingness to love Thee and their fellow men and to always keep Thy commandments.”
Read the rededication prayer of the Frankfurt Germany Temple here.
Timeline of the Frankfurt Germany Temple
A temple for Frankfurt, Germany, was first announced in a press conference on April 1, 1981. The groundbreaking ceremony for the temple was held July 1, 1985. More than 70,000 visitors toured the completed house of the Lord from July 29 to Aug. 8, 1987. The Frankfurt Germany Temple was dedicated Aug. 28, 1987.
It was then closed for major renovations on Sept. 7, 2015. Once renovations were completed, another open house for the temple was held from Sept. 13 through Sept. 28, 2019. The rededication for the Frankfurt Germany Temple was held Oct. 20, 2019.
Architecture and Design of the Frankfurt Germany Temple
The Frankfurt Germany Temple was built from white granite with a copper roof and features one isolated spire on the ground near the front entrance.
A small grass field on the temple grounds doubles as a park that many neighbors of the temple frequent. Rooms inside the temple include four ordinance rooms and five sealing rooms.
The temple was renovated from Sept. 7, 2015, through September 2019. Although initially expected to take no more than two years, the temple was gutted because of structural issues in the foundation. The baptistry was removed and replaced with a much larger one underground the outside walls of the temple. The only features of the original temple that were retained throughout the renovations were the outer walls of white granite, the copper roof and the stained-glass windows.
Interior Photos of the Frankfurt Germany Temple
