See first official photos inside the new Bentonville Arkansas Temple

“As the Church grows, more temples will be built so that more families can have access to that greatest of all blessings, that of eternal life,” President Nelson said before making the announcement. “We regard a temple as the most sacred structure in the Church. Whenever plans are announced to construct a new temple, it becomes an important part of our history.”

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The recommend desk inside the new Bentonville Arkansas Temple.

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An area rug rendered in blues, greens, golds and hints of pink with dogwood blossoms inside the new Bentonville Arkansas Temple.

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The bride’s room inside the new Bentonville Arkansas Temple.

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A waiting room inside the new Bentonville Arkansas Temple.

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An instruction room inside the new Bentonville Arkansas Temple.

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The celestial room inside the new Bentonville Arkansas Temple.

The Celestial Room inside the new Bentonville Arkansas Temple.

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The baptistry inside the new Bentonville Arkansas Temple.

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A sealing room inside the new Bentonville Arkansas Temple.

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The recommend desk inside the new Bentonville Arkansas Temple.

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This new house of worship will help local Latter-day Saints who have historically traveled long distances and sacrificed much to attend temples in Salt Lake City, Mesa and Dallas. Currently, members travel to temples in Oklahoma City and Kansas City. The Bentonville Arkansas Temple will serve Latter-day Saints in Arkansas and Missouri.

The temple will be dedicated on Sunday, September 17 in two sessions (10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.). Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who lived in Arkansas for about nearly 20 years in the 1980s and 1990s, will preside at the dedication.

“We have come back home,” Elder Bednar said at a news conference on Monday, June 12, 2023. “We are not Arkansans by birth, but whatever degree of adoption is necessary to be a full-blown Arkansan — that’s what we are.”

“Our heart is here in Arkansas,” Sister Susan Bednar added. “This is where we raised our family.”

You can read more about the Church’s first temple in Arkansas and see more interior photos on Church Newsroom.