The winter months bring out some of the best photos of Latter-day Saint Temple pictures. The white snow, in combination with the sparkling walls, makes for a breathtaking sight. Often, LDS temples are built on hilltops, meaning that the blanket of snowfall on the grounds remains smooth and undisturbed. These kinds of locations also create a stunning variety of landscapes, from mountains to fields to city lights. 

The tall steeples reaching up into the gray skies call back the words in the loved seasonal hymn, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day: “God is not dead nor doth He sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, goodwill to men!”

Cozy up with a mug of hot chocolate and enjoy these pieces of wintery LDS art:

We’ll start with photos of the Salt Lake City Temple. These pictures are beautiful in the winter. They have almost a fantasy ice-castle feel with the intricate architectural details carved into the granite, all surrounded by the white snow and grey fog. 

There is also the beloved Temple Square Christmas lights. Many families, couples, and groups of friends have made it an annual tradition to walk the grounds during the holidays. They come to enjoy the magic of months-work of lights shining from just about any surface. The welcoming warmth of it all is a symbol of the true reason for the season: Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

The Provo City Center Temple is another unique building for LDS art winter photos. The red-orange of the brick and deep blue of the steeples make the perfect wintery contrast to the surrounding snowfall and distant mountains. These pictures alone illustrate why this temple is a favorite among visitors and Church members.

These photos emphasize the beauty of the Provo City Center Temple. It has a classy, chapel style of architecture, which makes the building appear as if it was taken right out of a miniature Christmas village or a well-loved storybook. It somehow appears warm and cozy even amid the wet Utah winter.

So far, we only have one winter photo of the Star Valley Wyoming Temple, but it certainly holds its own. Mandy, the artist, uses a combination of photography, painting, and digital art to capture her LDS artwork. 

We love this piece because you can practically hear the gentle silence of a fresh snowfall. She chose a direct perspective for this piece, creating the impression of standing on the inside of a snow globe. 

Each one of these photos was taken by Scott Jarvie. He is an LDS photographer who specializes in capturing very crisp and clear images. On brand with his style, each of these winter pictures has a clear sky. The light snowfall and pine trees breathe a sense of minty chill into the photo, but the open sky also brings a sense of calm and safety.  

The Mount Timpanogos Temple is another popular subject for winter photos. The surrounding landscape is level and wide. It is a fair distance from the surrounding city, making for some magical pictures. The building is satisfyingly symmetrical, and the smooth grounds look exactly like the sort of winter wonderland to go walking in on a pleasant, snowy day. 

Even with the variety of angles, simplicity is the beauty of this selection of LDS art photos.

The building is satisfyingly symmetrical, and the smooth grounds look exactly like the sort of winter wonderland to go walking in on a pleasant, snowy day. 

As you’ve probably noticed by now, we owe many of our winter LDS temple photos to the consistently white Utah Christmases. 

Because of its unique, historical design, the Manti Utah Temple is a popular subject for much of our LDS art, including winter pictures.

The white and blue of the building fit in perfectly with the snowfall and the distant Rockies. Because of the color scheme, winter is possibly the most complimentary season to this picturesque building of worship.

The Manti Temple was also built at a location that makes for some fantastic sunset shots. We love the piece by Lance Bertola that contrasts the sun-dyed clouds with the frozen forest below.  

The Draper Temple is another LDS temple with a simple layout and a spread of beautiful gardens and grounds. What we love about these photos is that they are distant enough that you can also see the rows of autumn and winter trees that stand at the entrance and dot the hill. 

If you look closely at Robert’s photo, you can even spot the large, stone nativity scene set up just inside the fence. It is a simple detail, but it brings great warmth to an otherwise freezing landscape. It also symbolizes that the temple is The House of the Lord.

The Provo Temple has a beautiful backdrop of mountains, which make for stunning pieces of LDS photography all year round. However, the landscape’s winter blanket of snow and the fog that settles into the mountains add a cozy sort of mysteriousness to the scene. 

The wintery weather, in combination with the unique architecture of the Provo LDS Temple, each of these photos seem to be snapshots from some sort of fantasy world.

Many of our photographers go out of their way to capture scenes of less-known temples. We love these pieces of LDS art because they highlight different cities and parts of the world where saints gather to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

It is uniting to remember the reality that there are, at present, 168 dedicated temples dotting the world, with more still to come. It brings to mind the prophecy stated in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon:

“And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” - Isaiah 2:3, 2 Nephi 12:3

Our artists and photographers are constantly finding new inspiration. Want to see more of a specific LDS temple? Or a certain season? Post your ideas in the comments! And stay warm this winter!