June 23, 2025, 10:28am MDT
140 years after the first Latter-day Saint Missionaries arrived in Hungary, members of the country witnessed a historic milestone.
The ground broke on Saturday, June 21st due to the Budapest Hungarian Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Information about the live-streamed groundbreaking information was first published on Saturday, June 21st in the Church’s European newsroom.
In his remarks to the attendees, Elder Alliaud emphasized the importance of the temple as a place of faith, revelation and sacred covenant.
“The temple is a testament to our belief in the resurrection of Christ, which will overcome death and enable eternal family bonds,” he said. “Each temple is truly the Lord’s house and represents God’s deep love for humanity.”
In dedicated prayers at the place, Elder Aryaud thanked his Heavenly Father for the great plan of happiness, and the recognized family can become eternal through the temple.
“Heavenly Father, as we turn this soil today for the construction of your sacred temple, you pray that you will help us to stay away from obstacles to our lives that willingly stop or hinder us from being able to draw near you,” Elder Aryaud prayed.
Peterborsos, the stake president of Budapest Hungary, expressed his gratitude for the community’s support of the temples and pointed out what the building offers to the community.
“We are especially grateful for the warm welcome from Obda city, who has supported the project from the start,” said President Bolsos. “We hope that the temple is not only a spiritual home for our community, but it is one of the treasures of Budapest and contributes to the cultural and spiritual affluence of our community.”
“We are openly and transparent about the construction of our churches, our faith and temples,” said Gábor Klinger, Hungary’s Director of Communications.
To teach more people about the Church of Jesus Christ and the Lord’s House in Budapest, Klinger wrote, “We have created a dedicated and continuous updated website in Hungarian, where important information is published for our readers: https://www.jezusztusegyhaza.org/templom.”
About the Churches in Europe and Budapest
The approximately 18,000 square feet of one-storey Budapest Temple is being built on a 5.92-acre site at the northwest intersection of Koxis Sandor UT and Borsicaf Utca, Hasani Rejut, Óbuda, Budapest and Hungary.
The closest temple to Budapest is now the German temple of Freiberg, about 350 miles across Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Europe has 14 dedicated temples, including the Swedish temple in Stockholm. Another ten houses of the Lord are in the planning and design stages.
In addition to the Budapest Temple, the Birmingham temple, England, has been under construction since March 2025. These groundbreaking behind the scenes of the same year, European saints did not see the groundbreaking necrosis of the Lisbon Portuguese temple in 2015.
The first two Latter-day Saint missionaries arrived in Hungary in 1885, but the Latter-day Saint Church of Jesus Christ did not receive legal approval until 1988.
President Thomas S. Monson was the second counselor in the first presidency at the time, and in October 1989 he devoted Hungary’s first meetinghouse. The Hungarian Book of Mormon was published in 1991.
The Hungarian Budapest Mission was created on June 1, 1990, and the Budapest Hungarian shares took place on June 4, 2006.
Hungary, a former Eastern Bloc country, now has over 5,200 Latter-day Saints in 21 congregations.
