Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple
| Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Number | 99 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dedication | 17 September 2000 by Gordon B. Hinckley |
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| Site | 6.42 acres (2.6 hectares) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Floor area | 67,000 sq ft (6,200 m2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Birmingham Alabama Temple | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Followed by | Boston Massachusetts Temple | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official website • News & images | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coordinates: 18°27′59.64120″N 69°55′1.718399″W / 18.4665670000°N 69.91714399972°W The Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple is the 99th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was the first temple to be built in the church's Caribbean area.
Santo Domingo is the Dominican Republic's capital city. Founded in 1496, it is the oldest European settlement existing in the New World. In 1978 the Dominican Republic was opened to Mormon missionaries. By 1986 membership had grown to eleven thousand and in 1998, LDS Church membership reached sixty thousand. Before the temple was built in the Dominican Republic, members of the church traveled to Peru, Guatemala, or the U.S. state of Florida to attend a temple.
The temple was announced on December 4, 1993. On August 18, 1996, Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve presided over the groundbreaking, marking the beginning of construction. When construction was completed, a public open house was held from 26 August to 9 September 2000, attracting nearly forty thousand people. Over ten thousand church members from the Dominican Republic and their neighbors from Haiti, Puerto Rico, and other islands witnessed the dedication of the temple on September 17, 2000 by LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley.
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