The LDS Church announced the open house and dedication dates for the Phoenix Arizona Temple Thursday.
The temple will be open to the public from Oct. 10 to Nov. 1, excluding Sundays. Free tickets for the open house will become available on Sept. 29 on mormontemples.org/phoenix.
Following the open house, the building will be dedicated on Nov. 16 in three sessions, according to mormonnewsroom.org. An event celebrating the temple and the culture of the area will be held the evening prior to the dedication.
It will become the fifth operating temple in Arizona, following closely behind the Gilbert Temple, which was dedicated on March 2, and preceding the Tucson Temple, which has been announced as the state's sixth temple but for which ground has not yet been broken.
LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson announced plans for the Phoenix Temple on May 24, 2008, and the groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 4, 2011.
The temple is located at 5220 W. Pinnacle Peak Rd., adjacent to a church meetinghouse. The temple as initially designed to be a two stories, but after neighbors raised concerns about the height and traffic, the church proposed plans for a single-story structure with a full basement and nearly 400 parking spaces, according to mormontemples.org.
The Phoenix Temple will be the fourth temple dedicated in 2014 and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' 144th operating temple.
Unlike LDS meetinghouses and chapels, which are used for Sunday worship, temples are reserved for the faith's highest ordinances, including marriage, and are open only to faithful Latter-day Saints following dedication services.
Emily Eyring is the Faith and Family Web producer for DeseretNews.com.