DRAPER, Utah — For 10 weeks beginning in September, the LDS Church will close the Draper LDS Temple for four days a week to conduct repairs.
"The Draper Temple will be closed Monday through Thursday from Sept. 1 through Nov. 15 for routine maintenance and to repair condensation issues with the windows," said Kristen Howey, spokeswoman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "The temple will be open on Fridays and Saturdays — its busiest days — throughout this period to allow patrons to continue temple work."
The Draper Temple opened in 2009, the 129th temple of what is now 150 around the world. The building on the ridge near the mouth of Corner Canyon at the south end of the Salt Lake Valley sits on 12 acres. The granite temple has 58,300 square feet.
The church has four busy temples in the Salt Lake Valley, but the Jordan River Temple closed in February for extensive renovations expected to last through most of 2017.
Mormons consider a temple to be a house of the Lord, the most sacred place on earth, where they can go and feel close to God.
LDS temples are closed on Sundays. The regular Sunday worship of the church's 30,000 congregations happens in chapels, which are open to all. Temple worship is reserved for worthy church members. Temples are a place where the highest sacraments of the faith occur — the marriage of couples and the “sealing” of families for eternity.
The first LDS temple was dedicated in 1836. The 150th, the Provo City Center Temple, opened in March.
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