The Willamette Valley Oregon Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens this week for public tours.
Photos and videos of the temple were released Monday in advance of the open house period, which runs from Thursday, April 23, through Saturday, May 9. Tours will not be held on Sundays.
The temple’s design was inspired by local landscapes, according to a press release from the Church of Jesus Christ. Design motifs feature the mountain laurel, a flowering shrub common in the region, and art-glass windows depict the colors and flora of the nearby McKenzie and Willamette Rivers.
President Russell M. Nelson announced plans to build the temple in the Eugene, Oregon, area in April 2021 general conference.
“Temples are a vital part of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness,” President Nelson said. “Ordinances of the temple fill our lives with power and strength available in no other way. We thank God for those blessings.”
Construction on the Willamette Valley temple began in 2022. It is the third Latter-day Saint temple in the state, following the Portland Oregon Temple, which was dedicated in 1989, and the Medford Oregon Temple, dedicated in 2000. Around 150,000 Latter-day Saints live in Oregon.
The temple will be dedicated on Sunday, June 7. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will preside at the dedication, which will be broadcast to local congregations.
