Temples to Dot the Earth: Part 2

An artist's rendering of the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple

The Church has multiple temples on every continent. President Nelson has announced more temples than any previous prophet, and the Church is dramatically increasing the number of temples under construction (At the October 2021 General Conference, the Prophet Says the Church Will Build 13 More Temples).

Laie Hawaii (1919) was the first temple dedicated away from Church headquarters and was the first operating temple the Church dedicated outside Utah and outside North America (Public invited to tour historic Laie Hawaii Temple ahead of rededication).

Cardston Alberta (1923) was the first temple the Church dedicated outside the US (though Hawaii was not a state when they dedicated Laie it was a US territory) (Cardston Alberta Temple).

Bern Switzerland (1955) was the first temple the Church dedicated in Europe and the Eastern Hemisphere (The Pivotal Swiss Temple).

Hamilton New Zealand (1958) was the first temple the Church dedicated in Australasia and the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand Temple Closes for Renovations; See What It Will Look Like).

São Paulo Brazil (1978) was the first temple the Church dedicated in South America (The Sao Paulo Temple: Story of Sacrifice and Learning).

Tokyo Japan (1980) was the first temple the Church dedicated in Asia (Temple to Be Built in Tokyo).

Johannesburg South Africa (1985) was the first temple the Church dedicated in Africa (The Johannesburg South Africa Temple).

An artist's rendering of the Durban South Africa Temple

The Salt Lake Temple is located at 111.89°W, if you go east or west from there exactly half way around the world the longitude on the opposite side of the earth is 68.11°E, which is very close to the westernmost point of the Pakistan / India border.

The temple furthest east of Salt Lake is Nairobi Kenya (36.74°E) (Google Maps), until the dedication of Dubai United Arab Emirates (site not yet chosen about 55.1°E), and possibly the Russia Temple (city not yet chosen: There are stakes headquartered in Moscow, Saratov and St. Petersburg. Moscow would be about 37.6°E while Saratov would be about 45.9°E on the other hand St. Petersburg would be about 30.3 and therefore not as far east as Nairobi).

Bangkok Thailand Temple

The temple furthest west of Salt Lake is Bangkok Thailand (100.56°E) (Google Maps), until the dedication of Bengaluru India (77.70°E) (Google Maps).

Therefore there are currently no operating temples between 36.74°E and 100.56°E, a gap 63.82 degrees wide which equals approximately 17.7% or a little more than a sixth of the earth’s circumference. When the Bengaluru India Temple (77.70°E) is dedicated the gap will shrink to 46.63 degrees, about two thirds of what it was. When the Dubai United Arab Emirates Temple (site not yet chosen about 55.1°E) is dedicated the gap will shrink to about 22.6 degrees, which is about 6.3% of the earth’s circumference, about a third of what it is now.

Anchorage Alaska Temple

The temple furthest north is Anchorage Alaska (61.10°N) (Google Maps) and the temple furthest south is Bahía Blanca Argentina (38.69°S).

The two temples closest to each other are Provo Utah Rock Canyon and Provo City Center (2.4 miles, 3.8 km) (Church of Jesus Christ Temples: Statistics) (until the dedication of the Teton River Idaho Temple).

Outside of Utah and the United States, the two temples closest to each other are Lima Peru and Lima Peru Los Olivos (11.99 miles, 19.3 km) (GoogleMaps) (until the dedication of the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple).

Praia Cape Verde Temple

Currently the operating temple furthest from any other temple is the Praia Cape Verde Temple, which is 1,481.93 mi (2,384.94 km) from the Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire Temple (Mapdevelopers.com). Eventually the Bengaluru India Temple at 1,533.91 miles (2,468.6 km) from the Bangkok Thailand Temple will be the operating temple furthest from any other temple (Church of Jesus Christ Temples: Statistics).

Hong Kong China is currently the only temple in a country with a communist government (until the dedication of Shanghi China). The Church dedicated the Hong Kong temple before the People’s Republic of China took back governance of the territory of Hong Kong and they govern it differently from the rest of the country (Wikipedia: Hong Kong).

Freiberg Germany is the only temple the Church dedicated in a country with a communist government at the time they dedicated it (until the dedication of Shanghi China) (The Freiberg Germany Temple: A Latter-day Miracle).

Kyiv Ukraine Temple

Most of the temples are in traditionally Protestant Christian or Catholic Christian countries. There is only one temple in a traditionally Orthodox Christian country (Kyiv Ukraine, until the dedication of the Russia Temple) (Wikipedia: Eastern Orthodoxy by Country). There are 7 temples in traditionally Buddhist countries (four in Japan, Tokyo, Fukuoka, Sapporo, and Okinawa, plus Taipei Taiwan, Seoul Korea, Hong Kong China and Bangkok Thailand, until the dedication of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Singapore, and Kaohsiung Taiwan) (Wikipedia: Buddhism by Country). There are no temples in traditionally Hindu countries (until the dedication of Bengaluru India) (Wikipedia: Hinduism by Country). There are no temples in countries with an absolute Muslim majority (until the dedication of the Freetown Sierra Leone and Dubai United Arab Emirates temples) (Wikipedia: Islam by Country).

London England Temple

The Church built temples in the following countries or overseas territories before they organized the first stakes in them:

• Hawaii (a US territory until 1950) temple 1919 stake 1935.

• Switzerland temple 1955 stake 1961.

• New Zealand temple April 1958 stake May 1958.

• United Kingdom temple 1958 stake 1960.

Since then they have only built temples in countries or overseas territories with at least one stake (until the dedication of Shanghi China) (First stake organized in countries of the world).

Every country and overseas territory with 4 or more stakes and all but one country with 3 stakes (Uganda) have a temple operating, under construction or announced  (Facts and Statistics).

The following countries and overseas territories have at least one stake but no operating temple (Facts and Statistics):

• Nicaragua (12) - Managua Temple under construction

• Sierra Leone (9) - Freetown Temple under construction

• Zimbabwe (8) - Harare Temple under construction

• Liberia (6) - Monrovia Temple announced

• American Samoa, US Territory of (5) - Pago Pago Temple under construction

• Mozambique (5) - Beira Temple announced

• Congo, Republic of (4) - Brazzaville Temple under construction

• India (4) - Bengaluru Temple under construction

• Madagascar (3) - Antananarivo Temple announced

• Russia (3) - Russia Temple announced

• Uganda (3)

• Austria (2) - Vienna Temple announced

• Belgium (2) - Brussels Temple announced

• Benin (2)

• Cambodia (2) - Phnom Penh Temple under construction

• Indonesia (2)

• Kiribati (2) - Tarawa Temple under construction

• Marshall Islands (2)

• Mongolia (2)

• Norway (2) - Oslo Temple announced

• Papua New Guinea (2) - Port Moresby Temple under construction

• Togo (2)

• Albania (1)

• Angola (1)

• Bahrain (1)

• Botswana (1)

• Czech Republic (1)

• Hungary (1) - Budapest Temple under construction

• Ireland (1)

• Jamaica (1)

• Micronesia (1)

• New Caledonia, French Territory of (1) - Nouméa Temple announced

• Singapore (1) - Singapore Temple under construction

• Trinidad and Tobago (1)

• United Arab Emirates (1) - Dubai Temple announced

• Vanuatu (1) - Port Vila Temple under construction

• Zambia (1)