‘A wonderful celebration’: New details shared about the Salt Lake Temple’s 2027 public tours

SALT LAKE CITY (KSL) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is referring to the Salt Lake Temple public tours next year as a wonderful “celebration.”

Reservations for the Salt Lake Temple Celebration will begin on Sept. 1, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, acting president of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said a virtual temple celebration will begin in October of this year before the temple is open for in-person visitors in April. The church anticipates 5 million visitors over the six-month celebration and hopes “the world will come,” including a hope that travel restrictions will be lifted to accommodate some visitors.

President Uchtdorf said Monday he is grateful details of the temple renovation process have fallen into place; the community has “embraced” the development and helped with the preparations for the celebration. He said the difficulties and time frame of the renovations have been “immense,” with hundreds of workers each day.

“We’re very proud that everything is on time, on budget … and it looks good, and we’re looking forward to a wonderful celebration,” President Uchtdorf said.

The apostle said the restoration work is symbolic of Christ’s work in people’s lives.

“It shows that in our lives sometimes, we don’t need to replace credit where we have failed. It helps when we repair it — and that is what Jesus Christ is all about,” he said.

Four days after members of the church arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, they decided where to build a temple. He said they were still living in log cabins with dirt floor when they built the “majestic” Salt Lake Temple.

“Why? Because of their conviction and faith in Jesus Christ; that is their motive. That is what moved them. That is what is moving us now,” he said.

There will be shuttles provided from a parking lot between the Salt Lake City International Airport and Temple Square, and two streets will be closed in order to help people go through Temple Square while only going through security once, President Uchtdorf said. He said they have worked with Salt Lake City to arrange the process and have received verbal thank-you notes from people planning the 2034 Olympics.

In addition to temporarily closing a few streets, he said the church is “opening many streets” by adding beautification. The church is creating an open area for families.

“Even after the open house, people will come on the weekend, they will stroll across the plaza and look at the statues … they will go into the Tabernacle and listen to the organ concert,” he said.

He said “thank you, thank you, thank you” to each person who is helping complete the project.

Elder Brent H. Nielson, an emeritus general authority seventy and coordinator for the Salt Lake Temple Celebration, said the church will need tens of thousands of volunteers to help run the Salt Lake Temple Celebration. All members living within Utah will be invited to apply to volunteer; volunteers will have recurring weekly shifts over the course of a two-month section of the open house.

People can apply to volunteer beginning in June.

Elder Matthew S. Holland, general authority seventy, said the celebration and the church’s new Temple Square Visitors’ Center have been planned for years and will be much more than a standard open house. He said there will be displays, activities and an educational experience. People will not want to miss it, from longtime members to visitors from around the world.

“There’s something here for everybody,” he said.

The new spirit of openness about temples, supported by a new visitors’ center temple experience, will build excitement and interest in the celebration.

“We’re astounded at what the pioneers did,” Elder Holland said about the temple. “I think they, in turn, would be astounded to see what has happened with this generation to amplify the message, to help people catch a glimpse of the vision of it.”

Amy Christensen, with Jacobsen Construction, said the temple renovation is a “massive undertaking,” with up to 1,000 people working on the site for 20 hours a day — well over a million hours overall and still more to go. She said it has been an honor to partner with the church on the “iconic project.”

Crews are working on finishes right now; the historic exterior doors are going to be put back in their place soon. Christensen said the visitor center is a focus of the project, and she suggests people coming to Temple Square start at the visitors’ center as it will help them understand what the temple means.

Christensen said the windows in the visitors’ center lobbies, which are pointed toward the temple, were intentional and designed to bring unity to the Temple Square experience.

A detailed model of the Salt Lake Temple following renovations, complete with some of the same art, will be available in the Temple Square Visitors’ Center, which opens on May 18.

The celebration is scheduled daily from April 5, 2027, through Oct. 1, 2027. A new Temple Square website and app were launched on Monday to provide information, host the virtual open house and accommodate reservations.