The Stockholm Sweden Temple (Swedish: Templet i Stockholm) is the 34th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As of 2024, the temple is closed for reconstruction, which is expected to last three years.
The temple sits on a 4.47acres lot with six spires rising above the pines of the nearby forest. A cobblestone path leads to its doors.[1] Prior its current, major reconstruction, the temple had a total of 16366square feet, four ordinance rooms, and three sealing rooms. The temple serves Latter-day Saints from the countries of Sweden, Norway, and Latvia.
The April 1981 announcement of the Stockholm Sweden Temple was received with virtually no opposition. There were numerous sites explored for the building of the temple, but the one decided upon by church leaders was in Västerhaninge in Haninge Municipality, just south of Stockholm. Municipal officials and merchants welcomed the temple project, and later the Municipality showed further support by changing the name of the street on which the temple is located to Tempelvägen ("The Temple Road").[2]
Ground was broken for construction on 17 March 1984,[3] and the temple was dedicated by Gordon B. Hinckley during 11 sessions held 2–4 July 1985. Four of the dedicatory sessions were translated into Swedish, three into Finnish, two into Norwegian and two into Danish. The Swedish postal service issued a special commemorative stamp cancellation, available in a trailer parked near the temple, to celebrate the dedication.[4]
On July 29, 1988, an explosion, caused by a bomb placed outside the temple, caused minor damage to a side door of the structure.[5] In 2020, like all the church's other temples, the Stockholm Sweden Temple was closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic.[6]
In September 2022, the church announced the temple would close the following year to allow for extensive renovations and reconstruction, which would nearly double the temple's square footage.[7] Temple operations shut down beginning 26 March 2023.[8]
While preparing to renovate the temple, the church discovered several issues with the structure that could not be repaired, most notably its foundation was not constructed below the frost line and heaving over the decades had caused cracking. This resulted in replacing, rather than simply renovating the building. The new temple will resemble the original structure, but be slightly longer and wider, and include the addition of a basement. Demolition of the original temple began in earnest in January 2024.[9]
The area surrounding the temple is known for its Iron Age burial grounds, including Jordbro Grave Field.
The temple itself was built on a part of the ancient Åby Grave Field (Åbygravfältet).[10] During 1982–1983, prior to construction of the temple, an archaeological excavation of the future temple grounds was carried out. Hundreds of gravesites, most of which contained cremations and were marked by stones laid out in intricate patterns, were discovered. The graves dated primarily from the Pre-Roman and Roman Iron Ages, with the latest dated circa 100–200 CE. In 2000, directly across Tempelvägen from the temple grounds, the remains of a pentagon-shaped structure were excavated.[11] These remains were described in the media as an ancient Norse temple.[12] [13] The ancient and modern temples are only 165feet apart.