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The landmark Kirtland Temple reopens for public tours: See the first photos
Mar 25, 2024, 9:30 PM
The sun rises on the Kirtland Temple in Kirtland, Ohio, on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
KIRTLAND, Ohio — Free public tours began Monday morning at the reopening of the landmark Kirtland Temple, one of the most revered sites in the joint histories of the Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It is considered sacred by these churches and others as the place where Joseph Smith said the resurrected Jesus Christ appeared in 1836 to accept it as his house on earth.
The Kirtland Temple was the first of hundreds for the temple-centered Latter-day Saints. The Community of Christ maintained it for more than 140 years and successfully petitioned to have it added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 as “the only temple still standing which was built under the leadership of Joseph Smith.”
Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, freshly trained in the temple’s history, began hosting free public tours at 10 a.m. Monday. The morning included regular expressions of gratitude for the Community of Christ, which preserved the Kirtland Temple for more than 140 years until it transferred the site and other properties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this month.
The first visitors began to arrive an hour before the first tour at the visitors’ center, the other property that changed hands on March 5.
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Most visitors will notice few changes, said Ben Pykles, director of the Historic Sites Division, who prepared the temple for reopening after the transfer.
Workers installed temporary signs consistent with those at other historic sites of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Permanent signs are months away,” he said. “The furnishing is mostly exactly the same. A few chairs have been added in anticipation of increased visitors.”
Tours are kept to a maximum of 25 people, and the missionary hosts, the same permitted by the Community of Christ due to the structural nature of the third floor.
Read the rest of the story at KSL.com
