Forty years after the dedication of its first temple in Mexico and nearly a decade since the most recent temple was dedicated in that Latin American nation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is opening the doors of its latest house of the Lord there — the recently completed Puebla Mexico Temple — to the media and public this week.
The temple’s open house phase began with a media day Monday morning, March 25. Hosting media representatives for a news briefing and tour of the temple were the Church’s Mexico Area presidency — Elder Hugo Montoya, president, and his counselors, Elder Adrián Ochoa and Elder Sean Douglas — and Elder Juan Pablo Villar, an assistant executive director of the Temple Department. All four are General Authority Seventies.
Following the media day, invited guests will tour the temple Tuesday through Thursday, March 26-28. The temple’s public open house will run from Friday, March 29, through Saturday, April 20, excluding March 31 (Easter Sunday), April 6 and 7 (April 2024 general conference general sessions) and April 14 (a Sunday).
Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the Puebla Mexico Temple on Sunday, May 19, 2024, with two sessions set for 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. local time.
In conjunction with Monday’s media day, the Church released interior and exterior photos of the Puebla Mexico Temple. The images were first published on the Church’s Mexico Newsroom site and later on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Puebla Mexico Temple background
President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for Puebla on Oct. 7, 2018, one of 12 locations for new temples he identified in October 2018 general conference.
Construction began following the temple’s Nov. 30, 2019, groundbreaking, which was presided over by Elder Arnulfo Valenzuela, a General Authority Seventy and then president of the Mexico Area.
The Church in Mexico and Puebla
Prompted by the Mexico government’s efforts in religious liberty in the 1870s, Brigham Young sent missionaries to that country, with selections of the Book of Mormon translated into Spanish. The first Mexicans were baptized in 1877 in Hermosillo, and a branch of the Church was organized in Mexico City in 1879.
Meanwhile, several Latter-day Saint colonies were established in northern Mexico in the 1880s, with stake organized among the colonies in the states of Chihuahua and Sonora, just across the U.S. border.
As Church membership grew over the decades, Mexico’s first stake outside of the northern colonies was created in Mexico City in 1961. The first branch was created in Puebla in 1925, and the first two stakes were organized there in 1975 — later that year, 15 stakes were created in Mexico City in one weekend alone. Today, nine stakes are headquartered in Puebla, as well as two missions, the first created in 1988.
Beginning in 1945, many Latter-day Saints in Mexico started traveling to the Mesa Arizona Temple to worship and do temple work as that house of the Lord started offering temple ordinances in Spanish, the Church’s first in a language other than English. Caravans of members going to the Mesa temple continued until a house of the Lord was established in Mexico.
Today, more than 1.5 million Latter-day Saints comprising more than 1,850 congregations reside in Mexico, making Church membership there more than any country except the United States.
Temples in Mexico
On Dec. 2, 1983, President Gordon B. Hinckley — then the second counselor in the First Presidency — dedicated the Mexico City Mexico Temple. Within two decades, 11 more temples were dedicated in Mexico — including eight alone in the year 2000.
The Puebla Mexico Temple will become the 14th dedicated house of the Lord in the country and is one of 24 total that are operating, under construction or announced and in planning.
Dedicated temples are located in Ciudad Juarez, Colonia Juárez, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Mérida, Mexico City, Monterrey, Oaxaca, Tampico, Tijuana, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Veracruz and Villahermosa.
Temples under construction are in Querétaro, San Luis Potosí and Torreón, with those others with sites released being the Mexico City Benemérito and Toluca temples. Additional houses of the Lord are in planning for Cancún, Cuernavaca, Culiacán, Pachuca and Tula.
Exterior, interior features of the Puebla temple
The Puebla Mexico Temple features designs and details inside and out that draw from the city’s Hispano-American heritage, colonialist baroque aesthetic, local flowers and the area’s well-known and well-recognized Talavera ceramics.
The 35,861-square-foot sacred edifice is constructed of concrete and precast concrete and rises 111 feet in high, to the top of the spire that features a 7-foot Moroni statue.
The exterior and interior art glass shows the Mexican geometric motifs and patters of the local ceramics as well as the traditional colors — the graduated scheme of blue, yellow, orange and green, with cream and white accents.
The outdoor fountain features such a ceramic interior, a limestone exterior and Pizarra Stone Blanco Olivo framing the pool area at ground level.
Landscaping of the 6.81-acre temple grounds includes main walkways that are lined with sage, rosemary, lavender and local flowers such roses and birds-of-paradise.
Inside the temple, the flooring and base consists of marble such as Crema Luna and Crema Devas for the main, neutral tones and Rojo Alicante and Amarillo Mares for the accents, with decorative details based on the Talavera motifs.
The millwork and doors are done of medium-dark brown mahogany woods.
Puebla Mexico Temple
Location: 15 de Mayo Avenue #719, Col. Los Vergeles 72130, Puebla, Mexico
Announced: Oct. 7, 2018, by President Russell M. Nelson
Groundbreaking: Nov. 30, 2019, presided over by Elder Arnulfo Valenzuela, a General Authority Seventy and then-president of the Church’s Mexico Area
To be dedicated: May 19, 2024, by Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Property Size: 6.81 acres
Building Size: 35,861 square feet
Building Height: 111 feet, including the spire and Moroni statue
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