Interior images were released this week for the Belém Brazil Temple, which opens its doors to the public on Saturday, Oct. 22.
The public open house runs through Saturday, Nov. 5, excluding Sundays.
Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the temple on Sunday, Nov. 20. The dedicatory session will be broadcast to units in the temple district.
Images of the single-story temple and details about its interior and exterior features were released on ChurchofJesusChrist.org on Monday, Oct. 17.
Exterior features of the Belém temple
The temple’s exterior includes:
- Soft, white Brazilian granite.
- Stylized motif found in the stone combines geometric elements inspired by local Marajoara indigenous pottery with the Victoria amazonica, a native water lily known for its beauty.
- The water lily in the art glass design, which has a blue, green, yellow and pink color palette — a nod to the rainforest that covers much of the region.
- An 89-foot center spire that draws from local styles in historic downtown Belém and soars above the freeway that passes alongside the temple site.
Interior features of the Belém temple
The temple’s interior includes:
- National porcelain tile in the flooring with a travertine stone border, a Brazilian brown stone accent called Arezzo and a Crema Marfil Spanish stone base.
- Carpet carvings in the celestial and sealing rooms shaped by a local craftsman.
- A medium brown native wood throughout the temple millwork, using the same motif displayed on the exterior stone.
- Entry rug colors and patterns that follow the design of the art glass.
More about the Belém temple
The Belém Brazil Temple was one of four temples announced by President Thomas S. Monson in the April 2016 general conference. The groundbreaking was on Aug. 17, 2019.
The Belém Brazil Temple will be the Church’s 174th dedicated temple and is one of 18 temples in Brazil that are dedicated, being constructed or announced. There are eight dedicated temples in Brazil: the São Paulo Brazil Temple, which was the first to be dedicated in South America, 44 years ago in 1978, and temples in Recife, Porto Alegre, Campinas, Curitiba, Manaus, Fortaleza and Rio de Janeiro, which was dedicated on May 8.
Temples in Salvador and Brasilia (the country’s capital) are also under construction. Others have been announced in Belo Horizonte, Vitoria, São Paulo East, Santos and Maceió. Most recently, President Russell M. Nelson announced temples for Londrina and Ribeirão Preto.
Brazil is home to nearly 1.5 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — the third largest population of Latter-day Saints by country after the United States and Mexico, according to ChurchofJesusChrist.org. They comprise the more than 2,170 congregations in Brazil.
