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50 years ago
Architect's drawings of the Switzerland temple were released just prior to April general conference in 1953. Excitement for the first temple in Europe was high, and President David O. McKay indicated that the Church wanted to start construction on the building during the summer of that year, according to the April 11, 1953, issue of the Church News.
A beautiful site comprising about seven acres of land with a forest in the background had been purchased near Bern. The Church wanted to close a street which ran through the center of the property to permit a more central location of the temple on the site.
The temple site, accessible by railroad and highway from all parts of Switzerland, had been selected the previous summer by President McKay during his European Mission tour in 1952.
As President McKay released the sketch of the temple in his office he explained that there were many members . . . who never will be able to go into a House of Lord unless the Church builds temples in their lands.
"There are many of these people who are worthy of this privilege of doing temple work," he said.
President McKay estimated that the cost of the Swiss temple would be approximately $350,000.
Design plans were expected to be delivered to the Bern Building Commission by Samuel E. Bringhurst, who had recently returned as president of the Swiss-Austrian Mission and had negotiated for the site.
