HAMILTON, New Zealand — The LDS Church's Hamilton New Zealand Temple will be closed beginning July 2018 for extensive renovation, including a seismology upgrade, Mormon Newsroom reported Friday.
Announced by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the renovation is expected to be complete in 2021. Upon completion, an open house will be held and the temple will be rededicated.
Originally dedicated on April 20, 1958, the Hamilton New Zealand Temple was constructed by volunteers who gave their time as “labor missionaries” in order to complete church buildings in the Pacific, Mormon Newsroom reported.
“People with experience were called as missionaries to supervise the projects, and young local missionaries volunteered their labor,” the press release said. “More than 1,500 missionaries were called to assist in building the temple, and many people who were not members of the Church also volunteered.”
The temple currently serves church members in New Zealand and the Cook Islands. During the renovations, members in these areas will travel to one of the other nine temples in the Pacific area or elsewhere.
The Hamilton New Zealand Temple joins a number of LDS temples currently in various stages of renovation.
The Frankfurt Germany and Jordan River Utah Temples have been closed since 2015 and 2016 respectively as they undergo extensive renovations. The Jordan River Utah Temple will be rededicated on Sunday, May 20, 2018, while the Frankfurt Germany Temple is expected to be rededicated in late 2018. The Raleigh North Carolina Temple closed this month and is expected to be rededicated in 2019.
Four other temples are preparing to close for renovations.
— The Oakland California Temple is scheduled to close for extensive renovations in February 2018, with an anticipated reopening in 2019.
— The Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple will also close in February 2018, with renovations projected to be completed in 2019.
— The Washington D.C. Temple will soon follow, closing in March 2018 and expected to reopen in 2020.
— And the Mesa Arizona Temple, which was originally dedicated in 1927, will undergo its second major renovation beginning in May 2018 and is projected to reopen in 2020.