Sacramento California Temple

Dedication of the Sacramento California Temple

On the day of the dedication of the Sacramento California Temple, Latter-day Saints noted that the house of the Lord was “an answer to prayer and a blessing to members here.”

Church President Gordon B. Hinckley presided over the dedication ceremony Sept. 3, 2006. “We pray for this great state of California,” the Prophet said during the dedicatory prayer. “This temple, in the environs of the capital city, joins its six sister institutions in providing for the needs of Thy faithful Saints in this part of the nation.”

Another Latter-day Saint expressed her joy: “We have really waited a long time for a temple. We have been patient and faithful. Today, our patience paid off. It’s done. It’s ready. It’s ours.”

Attending the dedication with President Hinckley were President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency; Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Presidency of the Seventy; and Elder Richard G. Hinckley of the Seventy.

Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “This is a time of great significance to us, Thy sons and daughters, when we dedicate this, the Sacramento California Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ... We dedicate and consecrate unto Thee and unto Thy Son this sacred structure as the house of the Lord, a house of holy ordinances, where Thine eternal work may be carried forward.”

Read the dedicatory prayer of the Sacramento California Temple here.

A temple for Sacramento, California, was announced on April 21, 2001. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Aug. 22, 2004, presided over by President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Two years later, the completed temple was welcomed by an open house from July 29 to Aug. 26, 2006, followed by a cultural celebration on Sept. 2, 2006. President Hinckley dedicated the house of the Lord on Sept. 3, 2006.

Architecture and Design of the Sacramento California Temple

Standing on 47 acres, the Sacramento California Temple was built at 19,500 square feet, with a temple-white granite exterior finish from Fuzhou, China. The house of the Lord is set on a hill that overlooks the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Lake Natoma.

It features a single-spire design and art-glass windows lining the outer walls. Various trees, bushes and flowers decorate walkways and water features on the temple grounds.

The interior of the temple includes pictures and paintings of Jesus Christ and murals of the local area in the instruction rooms. A pattern of tall archways is found throughout the temple, and a baptistry, two ordinance rooms and four sealing rooms are included within the structure.