Design
In 1978, the East German government unexpectedly suggested building an LDS temple within the country. Doing so would reduce visa requests, and was part of a new government policy to cooperate with churches in hopes of obtaining hard currency through construction. The church emphasized temples' unantastbar ("sanctity") nature to the government, but initially planned for a chapel and an endowment house in one building, so that the latter could be used with the chapel if desecrated. The church intended to locate the building in Karl-Marx-Stadt, a longtime center of Communist ideology, as its LDS congregation needed a new chapel. In 1980 the local government rejected a new chapel within the city despite the national government's support, and instead assigned the building to Freiberg, about 20 miles away.
Although disappointed at first, Burkhardt and church leaders in Utah came to see the Freiberg location as superior. By April 1981, city officials' welcoming of the project ahead of the forthcoming 800th anniversary of Freiberg's founding in 1986 encouraged the church to plan for a separate chapel and temple. The government also permitted the church to in 1982 acquire a 1-acre (4,000 m2) hillside site instead of the normal long-term lease. The church announced the forthcoming Freiberg Temple in October 1982, and Thomas S. Monson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presided over the groundbreaking on 23 April 1983. The plans did not include an angel Moroni and no request to the government for one was made, although it would likely have permitted a statue if asked.
Read more about this topic: Freiberg Germany Temple
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