The exterior design of a new temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be built in Neiafu, Vava’u, was released recently.

This will be the second temple in Tonga, which will be constructed on Tu’i Road, at the site of Saineha High School, which is owned by the church. The school will not be affected by the construction of the temple.

The temple is planned to be a single-story building of nearly 17,000 square feet. A separate housing for the temple president and missionaries, as well as a distribution centre will also be built on site.

The construction date has not been confirmed, but detailed design plans are still in progress.

The new temple was announced in April 2019 by Church President Russell M. Nelson.

Latter-day Saints consider temples to bea sacred “House of the Lord”.

According to the Church, the primary purpose of temples is for faithful members of the Church to participate in sacred ceremonies such as marriages that unite families forever and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity while living.

Just over 66,000 of Latter-day Saints reside in Tonga, over half of the population of Tonga.

Tonga has the largest number of Mormons per capita of any nation in the world.