Ground broken for Madagascar’s 1st house of the Lord

The Antananarivo Madagascar Temple, once ‘merely a dream,’ will bring ‘more peace, more hope,’ says Elder Denelson Silva

Published: March 17, 2025, 6:37 p.m. MDT

A line of people in Sunday best holding shovels into the dirt. — Elder Denelson Silva — a General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the Africa South Area presidency, third from right — stands with dignitaries and Latter-day Saints to break ground for the Antananarivo Madagascar Temple in Antananarivo, Madagascar, on Saturday, March 15, 2025. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Ground has been broken for the Antananarivo Madagascar Temple — the first house of the Lord for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the island republic off the southeast coast of Africa.

Elder Denelson Silva, a General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the Africa South Area presidency, presided over the Saturday, March 15, groundbreaking ceremony. Though a native Portuguese speaker, Elder Silva offered a dedicatory prayer on the site in Malagasy, the primary language spoken in Madagascar.

The ceremony was broadcast to Saints throughout the Antananarivo temple district, including the islands of Mauritius and Réunion.

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