The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Thursday offered a peek of its newly refurbished Baton Rouge Temple, the only one in the state and among just 166 throughout the world.
Today’s glimpse comes some 18 months after the Highland Road temple—which serves nearly 30,000 Louisiana members, along with others in Mississippi, and regularly seems to draw interest from passersby—closed for renovations in early 2018. Church officials couldn’t provide the approximate cost of the renovations, but confirmed all funding came from member tithes across the globe.
Interestingly, its 11,000 square feet of usable space is small when compared to other Latter-day temples worldwide, some of which comprise 150,000 square feet. Physical size is largely determined by factors such as an area’s membership count and ease of geographic accessibility, said Kevin Duncan, executive director of the Temple Department for Church headquarters.
But square footage is also trending smaller in general, he said, with the church rapidly expanding its footprint in an effort to better allow its 16.5 million members to access the sacred ceremonies performed in temples.
“Going forward, we’re constructing some that are even smaller than this, particularly in remote and hard-to-access places,” Duncan said during a media tour. “If we continue at the pace that we’re going, we could have 300 in the next five years.”
The Baton Rouge Temple was originally dedicated in 1994 before opening its doors in 2000. Upgrades included enclosing the existing portico and raising the tower’s steeple by 10 feet to better correspond to the revised entry. The new design of the wood-and-steel-framed building also features an exterior of beige-colored limestone and new art glass windows.
Throughout the baptistry, waiting, celestial and sealing rooms, there are green, blue, coral and cream-colored art glass panels—created with shell and magnolia flower motifs—as well as Louisiana-inspired flowering crepe myrtle and magnolia trees.
A public open house will be held from Saturday, Oct. 26, through Saturday, Nov. 2, except Sunday. The temple will be rededicated on Nov. 17, with church members able to reenter the building on Nov. 23.
