Temple architecture (LDS Church)

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On December 27, 1832, two years after the organization of the Church of Christ,^[1] the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, stated he received a revelation that called upon church members to restore the practice of temple worship. The Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio were commanded to:

"Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."^[2]

The largest of the denominations that come from the Latter Day Saint movement, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), view temples as the fulfillment of a prophecy found in Malachi 3:1 (KJV).

The Kirtland Temple was the first temple of the Latter Day Saint movement and the only one completed in Smith's lifetime. Its unique design was replicated on a larger scale with the Nauvoo Temple and in subsequent temples built by the LDS Church. As the needs of the church have changed, so has temple architecture—from large castellic structures adorned with celestial symbols, to smaller, simpler designs, often derived from a standard set of plans.