Star Valley Wyoming Temple, Modern religious temple in Afton, Wyoming, US
The Star Valley Wyoming Temple is a classical-style building in Afton, Wyoming, with a single attached end spire topped by a statue of the angel Moroni. It is built of precast concrete panels, and its blue spire and art glass windows depict fireweed, a local wildflower. The interior has Victorian-era decorative paintings and a stained glass window rescued from a Presbyterian church in New York.
Thomas S. Monson announced the temple on October 1, 2011, alongside temples for Barranquilla, Durban, Kinshasa and Provo City Center, bringing the worldwide total to 166. Craig C. Christensen presided at the groundbreaking on April 25, 2015. David A. Bednar dedicated it on October 30, 2016, as the church's 154th operating temple and the first in Wyoming.
The temple's exterior art glass windows depict fireweed, a wildflower of the Wyoming mountains, a motif chosen for its local meaning. Inside, a stained glass window was rescued from a Presbyterian church in New York. Decorative paintings use Victorian era motifs. The building's design draws on the Star Valley Tabernacle, dedicated in 1909 and still standing in Afton.
The temple stands on a 43.6-acre plot east of U.S. Highway 89 south of Afton, with grounds of grass, trees, shrubs and flowers. Like all Latter-day Saint temples it holds no Sunday worship; after dedication only members with a current temple recommend may enter. Others view it from outside.
The stained glass window in the foyer originally came from a Presbyterian church in New York, meaning it was made for a completely different faith tradition before finding its place here. It is an unexpected detail in a building otherwise tied to a single community.
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