A 'joyful' place for everyone: New Temple Square Visitors' Center opens in May

SALT LAKE CITY — A new Temple Square Visitors' Center will allow visitors to view the "Christus" statue, a small Salt Lake Temple replica showing inside many of its rooms and a full-scale replica of sacred temple rooms — before, during and after the highly anticipated Salt Lake Temple Celebration next year.

The visitors' center, which is located south of the temple, will open to the public on May 18. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided a tour to media representatives on Monday in preparation for the public opening.

"The new visitors' center is a window into our sacred covenants with Christ," said President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, acting president of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

"It helps people of all backgrounds understand the role our temples play and why they matter to our members and to the communities. Here, guests can discover how temple teachings connect to everyday life and uncover the greater context of Latter-day Saint beliefs and commitment to family and Christ," he said.

President Uchtdorf said he dedicated the visitors' center on Monday morning, and consecrated it "for the purpose of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to all those who come here."

Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman said church leaders are very excited about the center.

"You may think you have been to a visitors' center experience with us before, and I am going to tell you — this is not that. This is an experience like you have never had before," she said.

President Freeman said they hope the visitors' center is a place where people can feel reverence and learn that the temple is "central to God's plan," points to Christ and connects families for eternity.

"We hope, as people walk through this visitors' center, they will feel our deep love for our Savior," she said.

The church also announced Monday that reservations for tours of the Salt Lake Temple, which will open to the public for the first time since 1893, will be available beginning Sept. 1. The celebration is scheduled from April 5, 2027, through Oct. 1, 2027.

"Our church leaders really wanted the focus to be on Jesus Christ and the fact that this is his house," said Elder Brent H. Nielson, an emeritus general authority seventy and coordinator for the Salt Lake Temple Celebration. "The visitors' center gives those not of our faith an opportunity to see inside a temple and better understand what happens there."

An exhibit called "Inside a Temple" takes visitors through full-scale replicas of temple rooms, including a baptistry, an instruction room, a sealing room and a celestial room. Elder Nielson said the visitors' center was designed to address two questions missionaries on Temple Square have received most frequently — about the church's belief in Christ and whether they can go inside the temple.

The temple experience is designed not to reflect any specific temple, with its unique stained-glass designs, but rather the temple any visitor might encounter near their home.

"The rooms themselves, even though they're not dedicated temple space, they sure feel like it," said Rich Sutton, a senior director in the church's Temple Department. "They're built to the same standards as temples are. And there is a feeling in there that is different. It's peaceful. It's quiet. It's contemplative. It's even worshipful. And it's beautiful."

President Uchtdorf said the openness about the temple experience reflected in the exhibit is "wonderful."

"There's nothing to hide; it's only sacred. And we hope it will be honored and respected," he said.

Reservations for the "Inside a Temple" experience are required and can be made at TempleSquare.org or through the Temple Square app — a new website and smartphone application launched on Monday.

A replica of Bertel Thorvaldsen's "Christus" stands in the west wing of the visitors' center, opposite the small-scale replica of the Salt Lake Temple. Standing next to it was a "humbling experience," President Uchtdorf said. He said he hopes the visitor center shares what Christ is to church members.

"Hopefully you find a place which is joyful and full of great opportunities, for individuals, for families, for everyone," he said.

A new marble sculpture by Swiss artist Christian Bolt titled Come Unto Me, on the lower floor of the visitors' center, depicts a seated Jesus extending an invitation of peace and compassion.

The 39,800-square-foot visitors' center also features a display of 11 miniature temples built to scale — showcasing the diversity of temples worldwide, a globe showing their locations and a quilt representing families around the world.

The church has been welcoming the public to Temple Square with volunteer guides since 1875, and it remains one of America's most-visited religious destinations, attracting millions of visitors each year.

Church historian Emily Utt said a bureau of information opened on Temple Square in 1902. It was a small gazebo with tour guides available to give people who used to stop a construction worker or gardener a more formal place to go for information. In the 1960s, the first visitors' center opened with the "Christus" statue inside.

She said this new visitors' center reflects the next generation and includes technology that "could only have been dreamt of" when it was first built. This visitors' center reflects a similar balance between being open and transparent and welcoming people to Temple Square while keeping the temple sacred.

"Every generation we have been asking how do we share the story of who we are ... how do we share the story of temples," Utt said.

The Temple Square Visitors' Center will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and admission is free. Reservations are required only for the 30-minute "Inside a Temple" experience. Free parking is available at the Conference Center with validation.

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