Dedication of the Salvador Brazil Temple
Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the 199th house of the Lord when he offered the dedicatory prayer for the Salvador Brazil Temple on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.
The city in which the tempe resides — Salvador — translates in English to “Savior.” Elder Andersen taught that though important that the temple is built in a city named after the Savior, it is more important to have a temple dedicated in a place where “so many wonderful people have the Savior — ‘Salvador’ — written in their hearts.”
Elder Andersen was accompanied by his wife, Sister Kathy Andersen, as well as Elder Mathias Held, a General Authority Seventy who serves as an assistant executive director in the Temple Department, his wife, Sister Irene Held, Elder Ciro Schmeil, a General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the Brazil Area presidency, and his wife Sister Alessandra Schmeil.
The Salvador Brazil Temple is the country’s 11th dedicated house of the Lord. The previous temple to be dedicated in Brazil — the Brasília Brazil Temple — was also dedicated by Elder Andersen in September 2023.
One day before the dedication, Elder Andersen visited the temple grounds and promised Church members that they would be endowed with power as they visited the new house of the Lord after its dedication. He said that “the city will prosper, and all those in [the state of] Bahia will be blessed because the temple is here.”
Before the Salvador Brazil Temple, the closest temple to members in that region was the Recife Brazil Temple, a distance of over 400 miles, or a journey of about 11 hours. Years before the dedication of the Recife temple, it took Latter-day Saints in Salvador 36 hours to travel to the São Paulo Brazil Temple.
“We honor those Saints who traveled sometimes 12 hours per day for three days to worship in the temple or rode buses 36 hours straight to serve there,” Elder Andersen said. “They have dreamed, they have hoped, they have prayed, they have traveled great distances. Now, the house of the Lord is closer to 36 minutes away than 36 hours.”
Ana Paula Barreto, from Salvador’s Sete de Abril Ward in the Salvador Brazil North Stake, conducted the choir that sang in the dedication’s first session.
“I have heard people say it happens, but I felt it today,” she said. “It felt like there were angels from the other side of the veil singing with us in joy for this temple.”
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “We ask Thee, Holy Father, to bless all who serve here, the temple presidency, the matron and assistants to the matron, the ordinance workers and the patrons, that Thy house may be a house of prayer, of revelation and of peace. Especially bless the youth and all others, that they might feel the love of Thy Son. Please, Father, put Thy name and the name of Thy Son upon this holy refuge, and allow Thy Holy Spirit to be here continually.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Salvador Brazil Temple here.
Timeline of the Salvador Brazil Temple
The Salvador Brazil Temple was announced Oct. 7, 2018, by Church President Russell M. Nelson. The groundbreaking and site dedication for this house of the Lord were held on Aug. 7, 2021, and presided over by Elder Adilson de Paula Parrella, Brazil Area president.
After a public open house from Aug. 22 to Sept. 7, 2024, the Salvador Brazil Temple was dedicated Oct. 20, 2024, by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Architecture and Design of the Salvador Brazil Temple
The Salvador temple is a two-story building of 29,963 square feet, with a two-story tower and domed cupola above the center. This house of the Lord stands at 148 feet, 8 inches to the top of the spire. The interior doors and trimming are made of Brazil’s jequitiba hardwood.
The exterior concrete for the edifice is clad with decorative stone from the country. Art glass windows feature the country’s red mandacaru flower, framed with blue borders and a color palette that includes green and tones representing the flora and fauna of the region.
The 4.6-acre grounds are adorned with trees, shrubs and perennial plants native to Brazil.
Interior Photos of the Salvador Brazil Temple
