Freiberg Germany Temple - Construction

Construction

The government aided in speeding up paperwork and construction for the temple, in part to help commemorate the anniversary of Freiberg's founding; by contrast, although the Frankfurt Temple was announced 1½ years before Freiberg, it was not finished until two years after Freiberg. The church also received approval to tap the new Trans-Siberian Pipeline, which passed near the temple, to heat the buildings with natural gas instead of brown coal, which would have required a large, dirty coal plant on the site. The construction used triple glazing and other advanced methods unusual for East Germany, and despite restrictions on imported materials, architects were able to obtain three high-quality Czech crystal chandeliers for the Celestial and sealing rooms at the Leipzig Trade Fair. Because the church was unsure of how long the temple's sacredness would remain intact, however, the bulk of the temple's materials were of "average" or "mediocre" quality, and steps were not taken to ease future expansion. Unlike the contemporaneous Stockholm, Sweden, and Frankfurt temples, for example, the Freiberg temple did not include an air conditioning system despite its availability in East Germany, causing hundreds to faint during temple rites.