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Temple in The Hague, Part 2
Our Temple
A Photo Essay
Text: Maurine Jensen Proctor
Photos: Scot Facer Proctor

Our Temple

As Cornelis Debruyn said of this new temple in The Hague, “This is our temple. The Dutch have a long history of temple-going because there is nothing easier in Holland than finding records. People here take their own family files to the temple to do the work.

“The Frankfurt Temple has a high percentage of people who do their family files and much of that has to do with the Dutch.” He mused on this while he stood at the temple door, an usher for the temple dedication, and then suggested we take his picture with a dedication ticket.

He said that he likes to tease Americans who come to Holland. “How often do you go to the temple?” he asks. “I live near the temple so I go often,” one will answer. “How often?” “Once a month.”

“So you go 12 times a year?” Cornelis teases. “When we go for a week to the Frankfurt temple, we are able to do 17 sessions in one week—and we try to do that two or three times a year.”

Behind his words is a sentiment that is etched on the faces of the Saints attending the dedication. We have waited long for a temple, and we will never take it for granted.

Designed for the Dutch

Hanno Luschin, project manager of the temple in The Hague, said the building reflects the area, especially in the use of water.

People step across a pool of water that sprays into a graceful fountain as they approach the temple door, and in building a temple below sea level, water was a primary concern.

It was built on wood piles that plunge 20 meters (about 60 feet) into the ground which are then covered by a concrete slab. The weight of the temple, which is waterproof, holds the piles down in place.

The temple was built on the site of an old Dutch Reformed church which the Church had purchased some years ago and had been using as a meeting house.

Brother Luschin noted that construction workers (who are not necessarily members of the Church) have to live by a certain standard while on the job. They are told that there can be no swearing, drinking, or smoking on the site, nor can there be loud inappropriate music.

Materials and building standards throughout all the temples must be at their highest possible level of excellence. This does not mean that marble would be used in a janitorial closet, but that the concrete on that floor must measure up to the highest level for that material. “It’s not just another job to construct a temple,” says Brother Luschin. “Just as we can drive by a European cathedral and it is standing in beauty centuries after it was built, we expect temples to stand and be beautiful for a very long time, built to arise to that level of expectation.”

Click here to continue to Part 3

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