The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced that its new Nauvoo Temple Visitors’ Center will be dedicated this June on a historic date for the faith.
The new visitors’ center in Nauvoo, Illinois, will be dedicated Saturday, June 27, by Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He will be rededicating the restored Brigham and Mary Ann Young Home at the same time, per a press release recently published on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The June 27 dedication date for both of these Nauvoo sites is significant, as it commemorates the martyrdom of the faith’s founding prophet, Joseph Smith, and his brother Hyrum Smith, who were killed in Carthage, Illinois, on June 27, 1844.
The date also marks 24 years since the dedication of the reconstructed Nauvoo Illinois Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ.
“Our hope is that all who come here will feel the love of Jesus Christ and gain a deeper appreciation for the sacred covenants and ordinances of his holy house,” said Elder Kyle S. McKay, a General Authority Seventy who currently serves as church historian and recorder.
“The vast majority of covenants and ordinances performed in temples today were first restored in Nauvoo.”
Nauvoo, Illinois, was the church’s headquarters from 1839 to 1846.
“Nauvoo was the site of important changes in church organization, including the establishment of the Relief Society,” the press release states.
“In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith also authored the church’s Articles of Faith, a concise declaration of the church’s core beliefs.”
The original Nauvoo Illinois Temple was dedicated in 1846, and despite persecution, many Latter-day Saints were able to receive temple blessings before their exodus West that same year.
“A fire and subsequent tornado” destroyed the original temple, per the church’s press release.
Plans to reconstruct the Nauvoo temple were announced in April 1999 by then-Church President Gordon B. Hinckley. The reconstructed Nauvoo temple was dedicated on June 27, 2002.
The new Nauvoo visitors’ center, to be dedicated 24 years later, will feature church historical artifacts, interactive exhibits, a short film and a Tiffany stained-glass window of Jesus Christ, according to the church’s press release.
Stories and messages in the visitors’ center will “focus on the history and significance of Nauvoo’s original temple, the current Nauvoo Illinois Temple and the importance of houses of the Lord in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ,” the press release states.
The new guided tour of the recently restored Brigham and Mary Ann Young Home will focus on the Young family’s preparations to leave their Nauvoo home and begin their journey West.
The two Nauvoo sites’ dedication will be a ticketed event for in-person attendees, according to the press release. It will also be broadcast live on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, and multiple Nauvoo locations will stream the broadcast.
Starting June 29, the Nauvoo Temple Visitors’ Center — located at 155 Wells Street in Nauvoo, Illinois — and the Young family home will be open to the public on the following schedule:
- Monday through Saturday, the visitors’ center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Sundays, the visitors’ center will be open from noon to 5 p.m.
Admission to both the visitors’ center and Young family home is free. For more information about the two sites, visit this page on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.