The Manhattan Temple Dedication
Part 2:  The Temple Itself (continued)

A Photographic Essay

By Scot and Maurine Proctor

Elder Robert D. Hales of the Council of the Twelve spoke to the youth the night before the dedication.  He was born in New York City in 1932.  He used to come to the Radio City Music Hall with his mother for the Easter and Christmas programs.

click photos to enlarge

The entrance of the temple is elegant, simple and beautiful.

Elder Hales reminded the youth that “The saddest words of tongue and pen are those that say, it might have been.”

Detail of the glass on the western façade of the temple.

“I met my wife in the city,” Elder Hales recounted.  He saw her when he was on the subway, then was surprised to come to Church and find her there.  He told himself, “I will never let her out of my sight again.”

Close up of door handle of the temple.

Elder Hales told the young people that the grass it not greener on the other side of the fence.  He reminded the youth of President Hinckley’s desire that this Church be fun and to have joy.

View from the sidewalk looking into the foyer of the temple.

“I want them [the youth] to remember this [day] the rest of their lives.”

Surely this will become a landmark of New York City.

“We are preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and that is why a temple is here,” Elder Hales said to the youth at Radio City Music Hall.

Magnificent elegance of the front of the Manhattan New York Temple.

The Manhattan New York Temple was the 119^th Temple to be dedicated.  It took 167 years to build the first 50 temple of this dispensation.  It took only forty months to build the next 50.  Nine more temple are approved or are currently under contstruction.

Beautiful flowers in small planters adorn the sidewalk by the temple.

When the Church was formed in New York (Fayette) in 1830, The Book of Mormon was published in English with an order to be filled by the Grandin Press of 5,000 copies.  Now The Book of Mormon is available in 102 languages and over 115 million copies have been published since those early days.

Click here to go to Part 3: This is New York City.