Oakland California Temple, Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Oakland, California, United States
The Oakland California Temple stands on Temple Hill in the Oakland hills, its stepped pale granite facade rising to a central tower crowned by a golden lattice spire, with three smaller gold-capped spires beside it. A relief of Christ teaching his disciples is carved on the north face, and a second mural on the south side shows Christ descending to the Americas. The building is reinforced concrete clad in Sierra white granite from Raymond, California.
The temple was announced in the early 1960s and opened its doors in the mid-1960s to serve the growing community in the Bay Area. It was rededicated in 2019, marking a renewal of its spiritual importance for local members.
The temple's name comes from its hilltop site, called Temple Hill, which also holds a 1950s inter-stake center used by 14 congregations in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Khmer. Since 1978, annual music and dance performances have accompanied the Christmas lights, which grew from 50,000 multicolored bulbs to 500,000 by 1998. The gardens and reflecting pool are a popular spot for quinceañera photo shoots.
The temple itself is reserved for members holding a current temple recommend; the adjacent visitors' center, open to the public and staffed by volunteers, is the place for other visitors. The 2019 renovation added a waiting area with windows gathering light from the reflecting pool. Public open houses are occasional, as in 1964 and from May 11 to June 1, 2019, excluding Sundays.
The temple was the only Latter-day Saints temple without windows until the 2018–2019 renovation added them, partly to create a theater-like setting for the film presentation of the endowment ceremony. The visitors' center holds a reproduction of Thorvaldsen's Christus statue.
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