Neiafu Tonga Temple
Freetown Sierra Leone Temple
Port Vila Vanuatu Temple
Monument sign base and fence posts installed; landscaping and interior finish work well underway; temple president and matron called
Under Construction
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Announcement:
4 October 2020Groundbreaking and Site Dedication:
8 April 2023 by K. Brett NattressSite:
1.62 acres | 0.7 hectaresArchitectural Features:
Single attached end spireOrdinance Rooms:
One instruction room, one sealing room, and one baptistryTotal Floor Area:
10,000 square feet | 929 square metersElevation:
64 feet | 20 metersGroundbreaking Ceremony
Elder K. Brett Nattress, president of the Pacific Area, presided at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple on Saturday, April 8, 2023. The president of Vanuatu, His Excellency Nikenike Vurobaravu, and his wife Rima Vurobaravu were in attendance along with the Honourable Prime Minister Altoi Ismael Kalsakau and his wife Ellene Kalsakau. After quoting a passage from the Book of Mormon that God "remember[s] those who are upon the isles of the sea," Elder Nattress said, "The Vanuatu temple is evidence of God's promise." In his site dedicatory prayer, he asked, "May the transcendent beauty of the temple become a place of peace and spiritual strength for the local residents and for all who will come and visit here."1
Temple Design
Plans for the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple call for a single-story building of approximately 10,000 square feet with a single spire. A meetinghouse and ancillary building will also be constructed. The ancillary building will house an arrival center, patron housing, and a distribution center.
Temple Rendering
On May 19, 2021, an official exterior rendering was released for the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple.
Temple Site
On May 19, 2021, the location of the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple was announced as a 1.62-acre site located at Blacksands Crossroads on the site of the Blacksands meetinghouse in Port Vila, Vanuatu, near the Port Vila International Airport.2
Temple Announcement
On October 4, 2020, President Russell M. Nelson announced plans to construct a temple in Port Vila, Vanuatu. The Pacific nation is made up of roughly 80 islands spanning a distancing of 800 miles (1,300 kilometers). Port Vila, located on the island of Efate, is the country's capital and economic center. There are more than 10,000 Latter-day Saints in Vanuatu organized into one stake and three districts. Missionary work began in 1975, shortly after several Latter-day Saint families moved from Tonga to Vanuatu in the early 1970s.3
Temple Facts
The Port Vila Vanuatu Temple will be the first temple built in Vanuatu and the third built in Melanesia, following the Suva Fiji Temple (2000) and the Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple (announced).
- "Groundbreaking Event Marks Beginning of Construction of Port Vila Vanuatu Temple," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints News Release, 10 Apr. 2023.
- "New Temple Site Locations Announced for Two Temples to Be Built in Oceania," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints News Release, 19 May 2021.
- "Prophet Announces Six New Temples at October 2020 General Conference," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints News Release, 4 Oct. 2020.
