Bangkok Thailand Temple Wiki

President Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of the Bangkok Thailand Temple 5 April 2015 during his opening remarks at the Sunday Morning Session of the 185th Annual General Conference. The temple will be the first in Thailand where the Church was formally organized in 1966. There are now approximately 18,000 Church members in 38 congregations in Thailand. The Bangkok Thailand Temple will serve Latter-day Saints throughout Southeast Asia. Members currently attend temple worship services in Hong Kong, over 1,000 miles away.^[3] “New Temples Announced: Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire); Port Au Prince, Haiti; Bangkok, Thailand,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints News Release, 5 Apr. 2015.

Though no site location had been officially announced for the Bangkok Thailand Temple, as early as April of 2015 some members began to speculate that the Temple would be built on New Petchaburi Road in Bangkok. The property there had acquired by the Church in 2008. It was theorized that the Church Office building there might be reconstructed as a multi-purpose Church building similar to the temple in Hong Kong.

On March 19, 2018, an artistic rendering of the Bangkok Thailand Temple was released to the public, revealing a 44,405-square-foot, six-story building with a soaring central spire and eight smaller surrounding spires. Behind the temple, an additional 91,370-square-foot Church facility will be constructed housing two meetinghouses, a service center, seminary and institute offices and classrooms, and mission offices and housing. An extensive underground parking structure is also planned for the site.

Elder Robert C. Gay of the Presidency of the Seventy was joined by Church and community leaders on Saturday, 26 January 2019, to break ground for the construction of the Bangkok Thailand Temple. Elder David F. Evans, president of the Asia Area, offered the site dedicatory prayer to an audience of 700 members with many more joining by broadcast at Church meetinghouses. “For more than 50 years, the faithful saints in Thailand have waited and prayed for this day,” said Elder Evans. “The construction and ultimate completion of the temple will become a blessing for not only the members of the Church, but also for all who see the beauty of the temple and feel of the peace that will be found on this sacred ground.”

Sister Wipharat Uanphoklang, who also offered remarks during the service, has lived the gospel faithfully with her husband and three sons. She shared the feelings of many Thai members when she said: “We have long prayed for a temple in Thailand. We are grateful that each of our children will have the blessing of receiving their temple ordinances and being sealed when they go on missions and marry. The temple gives us joy and hope as we seek to teach our children and help them feel of God’s love for them.”^[7]”Church Leaders Break Ground for Temple in Bangkok,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints News Release, 25 Jan. 2019

A media day preceded the public portion of the open house on Monday, August 28, followed by three days of tours for invited guests.^[9]”News for Temples in Five Nations,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints News Release, 27 Mar. 2023.

The public open house for the Bangkok Thailand Temple was held Friday, September 1 through Saturday, September 16, 2023, with no tours held on Sundays.

The Bangkok Thailand Temple was dedicated in two sessions on 22 October 2023, by Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was joined by other Church leaders, including Elder Benjamin M. Z. Tai, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Asia Area; and Elder Kevin R. Duncan, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Temple Department.

Elder Rasband prepared for the dedication by reviewing Thailand’s history and the Church’s history in the country and throughout Southeast Asia. He noted particularly the apostolic visits to Thailand over the years. He said, “What has settled on me is how the country and the temple have been cradled in the arms of prophets and apostles.”

For Elder Rasband, dedicating the Bangkok temple was a humbling and surreal assignment. “None of us who are ever assigned to dedicate a temple know why we were chosen,” he said. “It just happens by divine design. As I walked through the temple, I was just overwhelmed with emotion, having quite a personal love and affection for this people, the country and the leaders I’ve worked with here.”

The Bangkok Thailand Temple will stand in a redeveloping residential and business district of Bangkok on the site of the current Church office building on Petchaburi Road. The property, acquired by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2008, sits directly in front of the Makkasen Station on Bangkok’s Airport Rail Link, making for rapid and dependable transportation from Suvarnabhumi Airport, which opened in 2006.

Prior to demolition the on site Church office building housed most of the country’s Church offices, including the Thailand Bangkok Mission, the Bangkok Thailand Service Center, the Bangkok Thailand PEF Self Reliance Center, and LDS Charities.

Site

A separate 91,370-square-foot multipurpose building will stand behind the temple, housing two church meetinghouses, an area service center, Seminary and Institute classrooms, and Mission offices and living quarters. An extensive underground parking facility will also be available.

The 44,405-square-foot, six-story Bangkok Thailand Temple will feature a grand central spire surrounded by eight smaller spires.

The temple is a cast-in-place concrete structure with a precast concrete skin. The spires are cast glass-fiber-reinforced concrete. The precast concrete was fabricated by Asia Group (1999), located in Chom Thong, Bangkok.

The temple has nine spires of varying size. Each is capped with a perforated decorative screen designed to blend seamlessly with the heavens above and provide a glowing ember at night. The Bangkok temple does not feature an angel Moroni statue.

Decorative screens are a common design element throughout Asia. The exterior art glass’s outer layer has a silk screen interlocking octagonal pattern. The inner layer uses the same pattern with frosted carved glass and an amber, gold, and teal border. The art glass was designed by the Richardson Design Partnership group. It was fabricated by Glass Images & Creations Inc., located in Orem, Utah.

The water features were designed by Brian Anderson with Water Design Inc., located in Murray, Utah. The fountains were installed by S.Napa (Thailand), located in Bangkok, Thailand. The installation was designed by ME49 of Bangkok, Thailand.

The landscape was designed by Loci LLC, located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Trees, shrubs, and perennials were carefully selected to beautify and soften the temple grounds.

The south fence repeats the geometric pattern found on the temple spires and art glass. The patterns in the plazas also reflect the lotus design found on the temple facade. The fence was fabricated and installed by Premier Products of Bang Kapi District, Bangkok. The walkway was fabricated and installed by Thong Heng Stone Product and Stone Center, located in Bangkok, Thailand.

Cladding

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Water Course

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