Bangkok Thailand Temple interior, exterior photos

August 28, 2023

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With an Apostle providing a welcoming message and leading tours of media representatives, the Bangkok Thailand Temple has become the latest house of the Lord of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to open its doors to the public.

Joined by other Church leaders and past and current Bangkok civic leaders, Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles greeted attendees at the temple’s Monday, Aug. 28, media day events, which began with a news conference and was followed by a tour of the temple and media interviews.

“It’s a beautiful building in a remarkably beautiful city, but it’s much more than just a building,” said Elder Gong, who first visited the southeast Asia nation in 1980 with his wife, Sister Susan Gong. “We offer the best we can to the Lord, and He offers the best He can for us. This is the place where heaven and earth connect. It allows us to tie to our ancestors, our families, to make forever families.”

Monday’s media day kicks off a series of special-guest tours that will continue daily until the temple’s public open-house tours begin Friday, Sept. 1, and continue through Saturday, Sept. 17, excluding Sundays.

The Bangkok Thailand Temple, as photographed in summer 2023.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

As is the pattern with media days, the Church released interior and exterior photos of the Bangkok Thailand Temple and a video on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

When dedicated this fall, the Bangkok Thailand Temple will be the Church’s 185th operating house of the Lord around the globe.

Core beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ

In welcoming the media and guests before tours inside the temple, Elder Gong explained that Latter-day Saints believe in God, seek to create strong families and be good citizens.

The front reception area and temple recommend desk inside the Bangkok Thailand Temple.

“As good neighbors and good friends, we seek to be compassionate, kind and generous,” he said. “We help the poor and needy. For instance, we respond quickly when floods, natural disasters, or other community needs arise.

The Apostle singled out the Church’s many years of work with the Royal Patronage Foundation of Thailand and cited some examples of humanitarian efforts.

The courtyard with a reflecting pond and Christus statue at the Bangkok Thailand Temple.

“Our humanitarian service, training and assistance provide wheelchairs for the mobility impaired; neonatal training to help health care professionals save infants at risk; and needed water and wells in rural areas,” Elder Gong said. “Of course, no one group can do everything needed, but we can each do our small part.”

Others speaking Monday included Elder Suchat Chaichana, Area Seventy from Bangkok; Bhichit Rattakul, former governor of Bangkok and graduate of Brigham Young University; and Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt, the governor of Bangkok.

The celestial room of the Bangkok Thailand Temple.

Also attending the news conference and available for media interviews after the tour were four General Authority Seventies: Elder Kevin R. Duncan, executive director of the Church’s Temple Department; Elder James R. Rasband, on assignment for the Temple Department; Elder Benjamin M.Z. Tai, Asia Area president; and Elder Kelly R. Johnson, a counselor in the Asia Area presidency.

Bangkok Thailand Temple background

The late President Thomas S. Monson announced a temple for Bangkok, Thailand, during April 2015 general conference.

The front entrance to the Bangkok Thailand Temple, with “Holiness to the Lord. House of the Lord” in Thai above the door.

Construction began promptly following a Jan. 26, 2019, groundbreaking ceremony, with Elder Robert C. Gay of the Presidency of the Seventy presiding and offering a dedicatory prayer on the site and the construction process.

Church President Russell M. Nelson and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited Bangkok, including the future temple site, in April 2018 as part of President Nelson’s inaugural global ministry.

An instruction room inside the Bangkok Thailand Temple.

President Nelson said the Latter-day Saints of Thailand will not be passive.

“These people are energized. They are inspired. They want to do something about their faith,” he said. “They are going to get ready for their temple.”

The bride room of the Bangkok Thailand Temple.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will preside and dedicate the temple in two sessions — at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. — on Sunday, Oct. 22. The dedicatory sessions will be broadcast to all units in the Bangkok Thailand Temple district, which includes Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia. Currently, the closest operating temple for Church members in Thailand is the Hong Kong China Temple.

Bangkok Thailand Temple features

The Bangkok Thailand Temple — a 48,525-square-foot, six-story edifice featuring nine spires — is at 1645/6 New Phetchburi Road Makkasan, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400. Additionally, a 91,370-square-foot building will feature two chapels, meeting rooms, seminary and institute facilities, Church offices, patron housing and a FamilySearch center.

The Bangkok Thailand Temple at night surrounded by skyscrapers in Bangkok,

The temple has been built in front of the Makkasan transit station, where the Bangkok Airport Rail Link operates, allowing access for travelers coming from the Suvarnabhumi Airport. The temple site was previously home to a Church office building, used for the Bangkok Thailand Mission, the Bangkok Service Center, the Bangkok Thailand Perpetual Education Fund Self Reliance Center and other Church entities.

The temple’s design follows the patterns and colors commonly found in Thai architecture, including diamond shapes with lotus flower elements and a herringbone pattern, the latter evoking the weaved palms used in traditional arts and goods. With its screened spires and windows, the temple serves as a fitting addition to the Bangkok skyline.

The front of the Bangkok Thailand Temple, as seen through the grounds’ front gate.

The building is a cast-in-place concrete structure with a precast concrete skin. The nine spires of varying sizes — cast in glass fiber-reinforced concrete — each is capped with a perforated decorative screen designed to blend with the heavens above during the day and offer a glowing ember at night.

The exterior art glass reflects the decorative screens that are a common design element throughout Asia. The outer layer of the exterior art glass features a silk-screened, interlocking octagonal pattern, with the inner layer employing the same pattern with frosted carved glass and border of amber, gold and teal.

Front entryway of the Bangkok Thailand Temple. in Bangkok, Thailand.

Water features are found on the property around the temple as well as in the courtyard plaza, and trees, shrubs and perennials were carefully selected to beautify and soften the temple grounds.

The south fence repeats the geometric pattern found on the spires and in the art glass, while patters in the plazas reflect the lotus design of the temple’s façade.

Molding and woodwork in the Bangkok Thailand Temple.

Inside the temple, flooring features carpeting and stone flooring, the latter being marble quarried in Egypt and laid in a herringbone pattern.

The decorative lighting fixtures are inspired by royal sun umbrellas; however the function is inverse, since they radiate light rather than provide shade.

The millwork carvings in the columns in the celestial and sealing rooms feature ratchaphruek tree flowers, Thailand’s national flower. The door hardware is machine-milled bronze; those with a lever handle have a lotus flower motif.

The Church’s history in Thailand

In 1852, Brigham Young called four missionaries to serve in Thailand, which was then known as Siam. Only one eventually made it, but not arriving until 1854 and staying only four months because of the language barrier.

A hallway in the Bangkok Thailand Temple.

Member families living in Bangkok in the 1950s began to hold informal and infrequent meetings, until the Church authorized regular worship services for a small, English-speaking congregation in 1961, which has been functioning since.

In 1966, the Church organized the Thailand District, with Elder Gordon B. Hinckley dedicating Thailand for the preaching of the gospel in November of that year, done in a brief service in Lumphini Park in the heart of Bangkok.

The baptismal font in the Bangkok Thailand Temple.

In 1973, a mission for Thailand was created. The following year, the first chapel in the country was dedicated — in Bangkok — with chapels being built in other cities across Thailand over the next two decades.

The Bangkok Thailand Stake was organized in 1995, with a second stake in the city created in 2014 and third two years later.

Church membership in Thailand now exceeds 23,000 in more than 40 congregations, with meetinghouses throughout Bangkok and in most large urban centers in the country, including Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani and Ubon Rachathani.