While on our Pacific Island Tour, our cruise stopped at the island of Oahu. We spent the day at the top rated Polynesian Cultural Center, located in the tiny town of La’ie. With a population of just under 6,000, the area attracts over 700,000 people a year.
The Polynesian Cultural Center, a project of the Mormon church is La’ie’s main attraction. This is particularly famous for its authentic luau, however located a short distance from the center, the La’ie Hawaiian Temple should also be high on every travelers list.
The Laie Hawaii Temple stands adjacent to Church-owned Brigham Young University–Hawaii. Many of the students work at the Cultural Center, as a way to offset their tuition, most are native to the surrounding islands.
In 1864, the land was acquired by Mormon missionaries and settled by a colony of Hawaiian Mormons. The Laie Hawaii Temple sits on the Church’s original landholdings in Hawaii, known as La’ie Plantation. The 6,000-acre parcel was purchased in 1865 for $14,000.
The impressive white La’ie Temple, where “the highest rites of the Mormon church can be performed”, was built in 1919 on the site of an ancient Hawaiian “city of refuge” (puuhonua: “a sanctuary for the pursued”), now known as La’ie.
Surrounded by lush Hawaiian flora,on a gently rising hill that features cascading pools and a large fountain, the La’ie Hawaii Temple graces the north shore of Oahu, just a half mile from the Pacific Ocean.
At just 10,500 square feet, the La’ie Hawaii Temple was the smallest temple the Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) had ever constructed, though it has since been enlarged to over 40,000 square feet.
Often called the “Taj Mahal of the Pacific,” the La’ie Hawaii Temple was the first temple built in the Pacific islands (and in the state of Hawaii). It was also the first to be built outside of the continental US. The temple is also the oldest to operate outside Utah (where the Church Headquarters are located), and is the fifth-oldest LDS temple still in operation.
Travelers along Kamehameha Highway can’t miss the striking Hale Laa Boulevard that leads the short distance from the highway to the temple. The exquisite boulevard features a tropical garden on one end and palm trees and decorative lights on the other.
The concrete exterior of the temple was created using crushed rock and coral.
Carved friezes, created by sculptor Avard Fairbanks, decorate each side of the top of the temple, depicting four dispensations of time: Old Testament Dispensation (west), New Testament Dispensation (south), Book of Mormon Dispensation (north), and Latter-day Dispensation (east).
Before construction of the Laie Hawaii Temple could begin, the existing 30-by-90-foot chapel had to be relocated over a period of days using jacks, tackle, ropes, horses, steel pipe, and timbers to pull and push the nine-ton building down the hill. The building was later lost to fire on July 11, 1940, during a renovation project.
Construction of the temple came to a standstill when the supply of lumber ran out. Prayers were uttered, and two days later, a freighter was discovered stranded on a nearby coral reef. The captain offered his entire cargo to the saints if they would unload it for him. His cargo? Lumber—enough to complete the temple.
This beautiful structure is definitely worth a couple hours of your time.
Address
55-600 Naniloa Loop
Laie, Hawaii 96762-1299
United States
Telephone: (+1) 808-293-2427
Schedule:
Open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
More info:
Admission is free to the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors’ Center. Grounds to the temple are open to the public but you must be a member of the church to enter the temple.
