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The Washington D.C. Temple (formerly the Washington Temple) is the 18th constructed and 16th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is located in Kensington, Maryland, in the United States, near the Capital Beltway just north of Washington, D.C. The temple was dedicated in 1974 after an open house that attracted over 750,000 people, including several international dignitaries. The temple was the first temple built by the church east of the Mississippi River since 1846, when the original Nauvoo Temple was dedicated. Built at a cost of about $15 million, the temple is the church's tallest; its easternmost spire is tall. Its floor area of is the third-largest among church temples. Its design emulates the Salt Lake Temple with six spires, three on each end, and the building is encased in white Alabama marble. It also has a visitors' center. The architecture and highly visible location of the temple along the Capital Beltway has made the temple a local landmark in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. ==History== Plans to build the temple were announced on November 15, 1968; a groundbreaking ceremony was held on December 7. Clearing of the land started May 28, 1971. The site chosen for the temple was a wooded hill purchased in 1962 just north of the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495). Only of the site was cleared to give the area a more remote feeling. It was the first LDS temple since 1846 in the United States east of the Mississippi River and remained the only LDS temple in eastern North America until the dedication of the Atlanta Georgia Temple in 1983. At the time of the temple's completion, its district included all Latter-day Saint members in 31 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, seven Canadian provinces, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic. Original cost estimates for the temple were about $15 million. Members of the church within the temple's attendance district were asked to contribute at least $4.5 million. Eventually, local members donated around $6 million for the temple's construction.〔 At a completion ceremony the church's First Presidency buried a metal box with historical items near a corner of the temple. During the first week of the temple open house, government officials and diplomats from around the world were taken on special tours through the temple. The open house continued for seven weeks and over 750,000 people went through the temple. The high number of people that attended the open house was attributed to the large amount of coverage that the temple and church received as the temple neared completion. Articles about the temple were printed in ''Time'', ''Newsweek'', and ''U.S. News & World Report''. There was also a large press conference held that introduced the temple and church president Spencer W. Kimball. Demand for tickets to the open house was high and the tickets were gone before the first day of tours; times were extended to accommodate more people. Ten dedicatory sessions were held for the Washington D.C. Temple between November 19 and 22, 1974. Over 40,000 members attended the dedicatory services.〔〔 During the 5.8 magnitude 2011 Virginia earthquake on August 23, 2011, the temple sustained minor damage to some parts of the exterior. The tops of four spires were knocked off and fell to the ground, as were several pieces of marble from the building's facade. No significant damage was reported to the temple's interior or to the neighboring visitor center. Repairs were made beginning in September of that year and no disruptions occurred in the temple's normal operating schedule. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Washington D.C. Temple」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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