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Church President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Papeete Tahiti Temple in six sessions from Oct. 27-29, 1983. As he arrived at the airport at 2 a.m. on Oct. 27, a group of Tahitian Church members welcomed him with songs and presented him with leis.
Tahitian Saints welcome President Hinckley at the airport in Papeete for the temple dedication on Oct. 27, 1983.
John L. Hart
Approximately 16,500 people toured the house of the Lord during its public open house a week before the dedication — from Oct. 13 through Oct. 22, 1983 — and 2,500 Church members attended the dedication. Some arrived hours early to be on temple grounds before the dedication started, even though they already had tickets to the ceremony.
During the dedication event, President Hinckley said to those in attendance, “I count it a great privilege to be here with you. It is a wonderful thing to come back to Tahiti. I don’t know of a more beautiful place.”
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “Thy servants have labored among the Tahitian people and found those who have been touched by the Spirit and who have come into the fold of the Church. There is now strength and maturity among the many thousands of the Saints of French Polynesia, for which we express gratitude unto Thee. As a capstone to all of this effort, we now have this beautiful and sacred house to present unto Thee.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Papeete Tahiti Temple here.
The Papeete Tahiti Temple was closed for renovations from August 2005 to October 2006. After being renovated, the temple was rededicated on Nov. 12, 2006, by Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
About 10,000 Tahitians from six stakes and three districts attended the dedication, which was also broadcast to the BYU–Hawaii campus in Laie, Hawaii, as well as New Caledonia and Salt Lake City. At the rededication, Elder Perry said, “There are not a friendlier people in all the earth than the people here in Tahiti. The ones that came [to the rededication] came reverently this morning.”
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “This temple was first dedicated 23 years ago. It has served well the Saints of these islands of Tahiti. Thousands have participated in the ordinances in the house of the Lord in their own behalf and in behalf of those beyond the veil. Their faith in Thine eternal purposes has been strengthened as they have done so.”
Read the rededication prayer of the Papeete Tahiti Temple here.
A temple for Tahiti was announced at a news conference by Church President Spencer W. Kimball and his counselors — President N. Eldon Tanner, first counselor; and President Marion G. Romney, second counselor — on April 2, 1980. It was announced with temples in six other locations: Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; Nuku‘alofa, Tonga; Apia, Western Samoa; Sydney, Australia; and Atlanta, Georgia.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the Papeete Tahiti Temple was held on Feb. 13, 1981, and was presided over by President Kimball. Approximately 3,000 Church members attended the ceremony.
The public was invited to tour the Papeete Tahiti Temple from Oct. 13 through Oct. 22, 1983. Approximately 16,500 people attended the open house.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Papeete Tahiti Temple in six sessions from Oct. 27-29, 1983. About 2,500 visitors attended the dedication.
The Papeete Tahiti Temple was closed from August 2005 through October 2006. It underwent significant renovations and a 2,000-square-foot expansion.
The public was invited to tour the temple from Oct. 12 through Nov. 4, 2006, with a combined 36,861 visitors attending during this period.
An estimated 10,000 Latter-day Saints — including Tahitians, Cook Islanders and returned missionaries from all over the world who served in Tahiti — participated in a cultural celebration before the rededication of the Papeete Tahiti Temple. Tahitian children performed traditional songs and dances, returned missionaries marched to the tune of “Called to Serve,” and a choir of young men and women dressed in white added their voices to the celebration.
The Papeete Tahiti Temple was rededicated in two sessions on Nov. 12, 2006, by Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. About 10,000 visitors attended the dedication in person or watched the broadcast from a local stake center.
A temple for Tahiti was announced in a news conference on April 2, 1980, by Church President Spencer W. Kimball and his counselors — President N. Eldon Tanner, first counselor; and President Marion G. Romney, second counselor. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Papeete Tahiti Temple took place on Feb. 13, 1981, presided over by Church President Spencer W. Kimball.
After an open house from Oct. 13-22, 1983, the temple was dedicated by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley throughout six sessions from Oct. 27-29.
The Papeete Tahiti Temple was closed for renovations in August 2005 then reopened in October 2006. The rededication open house ran from Oct. 12 through Nov. 4, 2006, before the temple was rededicated on Nov. 12, 2006, by Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Initially, the temple was built with an area of just over 9,900 square feet, which was increased to about 12,150 square feet with the renovations from 2005 to 2006. The temple stands on 1.7 acres of land with grass fields, tropical trees and flower beds.
The interior of the temple features the celestial room, a baptistry, a sealing room, a bride’s room, two ordinance rooms and two sealing rooms.
2 April 1980
27 October 1983
12 November 2006
Route de Fautaua-Titioro
98716 Papeete, Tahiti
French Polynesia
View schedule and book online
(689) 40-50-3939
This was the first Latter-day Saint temple in French Polynesia.
The Papeete Tahiti Temple was announced with six other temples; at the time, this was the largest number of temples announced at once in Church history
The groundbreaking for the Tahiti temple — held on Feb. 13, 1981 — was followed by groundbreakings for temples in both Nuku‘alofa, Tonga, on Feb. 18, 1981, and Apia, Western Samoa, on Feb. 19, 1981. All three temples were also announced on the same day.
Bill and Kay Limb, a Utah couple who were less-active members of the Church and helped build the Tahiti temple, were so impressed by the love shown to them by Tahitian Saints and the Spirit they felt throughout the construction of this house of the Lord that they were the first couple to be sealed there after it was dedicated.
An electrician who worked on the temple, Jim Roloson, was baptized along with his wife, Linda, after their time working on the Tahitian temple.
Many elected officials of French Polynesia and Tahiti attended the open house, including one who, speaking of the celestial room, said, “Everything instills reverence and closeness to God. I have never felt that way before — it was difficult to leave the room.”
Victor D. Cave, president of the Papeete Tahiti Stake in 1981, told the Church News during the temple groundbreaking coverage that before the Papeete Tahiti Temple was constructed, Church members in Tahiti took a trip once each year to New Zealand to perform sacred ordinances in a house of the Lord. The trip would cost a family with two parents and three children around $5,000 at the time, and even though the average monthly wage in Tahiti was around $600 a month, around 40-80 Tahitian Latter-day Saints would make the trip each year.
During the temple rededication open house, government opposition leaders in Tahiti declared a strike and established roadblocks that prevented traffic from entering and leaving Papeete, thus worrying temple open house volunteers that visitors would find it hard to attend the event. However, the road closures instead brought many to visit the temple who otherwise would not have, bringing more than 4,000 visitors in the first three days of the open house.
This was the first Latter-day Saint temple in French Polynesia.
The Papeete Tahiti Temple was announced with six other temples; at the time, this was the largest number of temples announced at once in Church history
The groundbreaking for the Tahiti temple — held on Feb. 13, 1981 — was followed by groundbreakings for temples in both Nuku‘alofa, Tonga, on Feb. 18, 1981, and Apia, Western Samoa, on Feb. 19, 1981. All three temples were also announced on the same day.
Bill and Kay Limb, a Utah couple who were less-active members of the Church and helped build the Tahiti temple, were so impressed by the love shown to them by Tahitian Saints and the Spirit they felt throughout the construction of this house of the Lord that they were the first couple to be sealed there after it was dedicated.
An electrician who worked on the temple, Jim Roloson, was baptized along with his wife, Linda, after their time working on the Tahitian temple.
Many elected officials of French Polynesia and Tahiti attended the open house, including one who, speaking of the celestial room, said, “Everything instills reverence and closeness to God. I have never felt that way before — it was difficult to leave the room.”
Victor D. Cave, president of the Papeete Tahiti Stake in 1981, told the Church News during the temple groundbreaking coverage that before the Papeete Tahiti Temple was constructed, Church members in Tahiti took a trip once each year to New Zealand to perform sacred ordinances in a house of the Lord. The trip would cost a family with two parents and three children around $5,000 at the time, and even though the average monthly wage in Tahiti was around $600 a month, around 40-80 Tahitian Latter-day Saints would make the trip each year.
During the temple rededication open house, government opposition leaders in Tahiti declared a strike and established roadblocks that prevented traffic from entering and leaving Papeete, thus worrying temple open house volunteers that visitors would find it hard to attend the event. However, the road closures instead brought many to visit the temple who otherwise would not have, bringing more than 4,000 visitors in the first three days of the open house.