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The LDS Church's Jordan River Temple, one of the global faith's most heavily trafficked, will get a makeover next year.
The "extensive renovation" will require the nearly 34-year-old South Jordan edifice to shut down from Feb. 5, 2016, until the "latter part" of 2017, according to a news release from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Meanwhile, in southern Utah, LDS officials and community leaders gathered Saturday to break ground for a Mormon temple in Cedar City, said a separate news release.
"As we break ground, symbolically today, we remember the founders of Cedar City 167 years ago and remember the broken picks and broken shovels," said L. Whitney Clayton, a member of the faith's Presidency of the Seventy. "We stand on their shoulders. They endured much to prepare the area's foundation for a city they would never see."
When the structure comes on line , the Beehive State will have 17 LDS temples.
Three other temples in the Salt Lake Valley — Draper, Oquirrh Mountain and the iconic Salt Lake edifice — are "preparing to accommodate" Mormons who usually attend the Jordan River Temple, the Utah-based church explained. "Following the renovation, the [Jordan River] Temple [originally opened in November 1981] will be rededicated."
The news release contained no other details about the renovation.
South Jordan currently is the only city in the world with two LDS temples (Jordan River and Oquirrh Mountain). It will be joined by Provo on March 20, 2016, when the Provo City Center Temple (in a restored historic tabernacle) is dedicated.
There are 173 LDS temples throughout the world either in operation, under construction or announced. Five are being renovated.
Mormons see temples as houses of God, where they take part in their religion's highest ordinances, including eternal marriage.
David Noyce