Fort Worth LDS Temple Sets 2026 Open House; Barcelona Temple to Break Ground

After nearly five years of planning and construction, the Fort Worth Texas Temple is almost ready for the public — and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has now locked in the dates that will bring it to life.

The First Presidency announced that a media day will open proceedings on November 2, 2026, followed by invited-guest tours on November 3 and 4. The public open house runs November 5 through November 21, 2026, excluding Sundays, according to churchofjesuschrist.org. The formal dedication — the moment that, in Latter-day Saint practice, sets a building apart as a house of the Lord — is scheduled for Sunday, January 10, 2027, and will be broadcast to all congregations in the Fort Worth Temple district.

In the same announcement, the Church confirmed that the Barcelona Spain Temple will hold its groundbreaking ceremony on September 19, 2026, with Elder James W. McConkie III of the Europe Central Area Presidency presiding.

Together, the two announcements illustrate a pattern that has defined the Church's building program for years: simultaneous expansion on multiple continents, compressing the gap between announcement and dedication. The Fort Worth temple was announced by President Russell M. Nelson at the October 2021 General Conference, according to churchofjesuschristtemples.org. The Barcelona temple followed in 2022. Both are now moving toward completion within the same calendar window.

For Texas, the Fort Worth temple is the state's sixth — joining Dallas (1984), Houston (2000), Lubbock (2002), San Antonio (2005), and McAllen (2023), according to churchofjesuschristtemples.org. That timeline matters: it took the Church roughly two decades to build the first five Texas temples, but the pace has accelerated sharply. Temples are currently under construction in Austin and Fairview, and sites have been announced in El Paso and Fort Bend. A state that once had one temple now has a network approaching ten.

The Fort Worth site — a 9.37-acre parcel north of SW Hulen Street and Greenridge Drive in Burleson — will house a single-story structure of approximately 30,000 square feet, according to churchofjesuschristtemples.org. The groundbreaking was held October 28, 2023.

Our hearts are full of appreciation for the treasured gift of Thy Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. His divine mission provides hope and purpose. Through His atonement, we find solace during trials, and through His grace, we are fortified with strength and encouragement to serve our neighbors.— Elder Jose L. Alonso, General Authority Seventy, at the 2023 Fort Worth groundbreaking

Spain's situation carries its own weight. The Madrid Spain Temple, dedicated in 1999, has served the country's roughly 72,000 Latter-day Saints — spread across about 150 congregations — as the sole temple for more than two decades, according to churchofjesuschrist.org. Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city and the capital of Catalonia, gives the Church a geographic anchor in the country's northeast that Madrid, some 600 kilometers away, simply cannot provide.

In Latter-day Saint theology, temples occupy a different category than ordinary meetinghouses. They are closed to the general public after dedication and reserved for members in good standing to perform ordinances — rituals the Church teaches are necessary for salvation and for binding families across generations. Open houses, held before dedication, are the one window when anyone can walk through.

The sealing powers of the priesthood, directed by the keys restored in the Kirtland Temple (in 1836), bring families together for eternity. They are currently being exercised in a growing number of temples of the Lord throughout the world.— President Dallin H. Oaks, at a recent general conference

That theological significance is why open houses draw not just Church members but curious neighbors, local officials, and interfaith visitors — and why the November window in Fort Worth is likely to see substantial traffic. For a congregation of nearly 400,000 members across roughly 750 Texas congregations, according to churchofjesuschrist.org, the new temple also means shorter travel distances for families seeking to participate in ordinances.

No registration details for the Fort Worth open house have yet been released in these announcements. Historically, the Church has opened free-ticket registration through its website in the weeks before an open house begins.

Why it matters — For nearly 400,000 Texas Latter-day Saints and curious neighbors alike, the Fort Worth open house offers a rare, time-limited chance to walk through a building that will otherwise remain closed to the public after its January 2027 dedication — while Spain's Barcelona groundbreaking marks a generational expansion of the Church's European footprint.

Reported by churchofjesuschrist.org, churchofjesuschristtemples.org