San Antonio Texas Temple

Dedication of the San Antonio Texas Temple

San Antonio Latter-day Saints had waited a long time for a house of the Lord in their city. At a cultural celebration for the San Antonio Texas Temple, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley told the youth in attendance that the San Antonio temple “is a beautiful, beautiful temple.”

Continuing, the Prophet noted, “There is no other temple in all of the Church in all of the world that is more beautiful than San Antonio in its interior designs.”

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said that the heavens were smiling on Texas the day of the San Antonio temple’s dedication.

President Hinckley presided over the dedication of the temple on May 22, 2005. In his dedicatory prayer the Prophet invoked God’s blessings “upon the citizens of [the San Antonio] community and state” and prayed that He would “bless this nation of which we are all a part.”

“This will be a landmark for San Antonio,” Elder Charles Didier of the Presidency of the Seventy said.

Mike Majorka, a local member, said that the opening of the temple “is one of the greatest events that has ever happened to San Antonio.” Majorka added later, “I love the fact that the temple is here and it’s ours. It’s part of San Antonio [and] always will be.”

Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “Wilt Thou, dear Father, accept of this our offering unto Thee. Wilt Thou smile upon it and crown this dedication with Thy benediction. Hallow it as Thy house. Wilt Thou deign to visit it and cause that Thy Holy Spirit may dwell here. The faithful and obedient will gather here to accomplish the singular, eternal work in their own behalf and in behalf of those beyond the veil of death.”

Read the dedicatory prayer of the San Antonio Texas Temple here.

In a devotional with local members, President Gordon B. Hinckley announced a temple for San Antonio, Texas, on June 24, 2001. Ground was broken on March 29, 2003, and beginning April 16, 2005, an open house for the San Antonio Texas Temple was held through May 7, 2005.

Youth performed a cultural celebration for the new house of the Lord on May 21, 2005, and on May 22, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the temple.

Architecture and Design of the San Antonio Texas Temple

The San Antonio Texas Temple stands on 5.5 acres. The 16,800-square-foot structure holds two instruction rooms, two sealing rooms and a baptistry. Its exterior is made of granite and features a single spire at the center of the structure. Art-glass windows are found around the exterior walls.

Various trees, shrubs, walkways and water features decorate the San Antonio temple grounds. The “landscape art ... captures the rugged beauty of south Texas,” reported Church News.

Inside the temple are found various pictures and paintings of Jesus Christ’s life, as well as murals in the instruction rooms. The celestial room features floor-to-ceiling-length art-glass windows depicting the tree of life.