As fate would have it, my trip to Kyiv coincided with the temple open house and dedication. I went there on the first day that I had the chance. I've seen church buildings in Russia that didn't have quite the level of construction that you would hope for, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect with the temple. To say the least I went away thoroughly impressed. I brought my landlord along (the school assigned us host families to stay with while in Kyiv) and she was also impressed with all of the care that went into everything in and around the temple. She even made several remarks about the lawn and landscaping. It really is an impressive edifice made all the more impressive when you compare it with the surrounding area. See for yourself!
I liked seeing the inscription on the temple in Ukrainian. I don't speak Ukrainian but it's close enough to Russian that I can understand a lot of it.
This is a "hotel" for all of the people that travel so far to attend the temple. The temple encompasses a huge geographic area so many of the people that attend will spend a significant amount in order to just get to the temple. It's nice that they won't have to spend a lot of additional money on accommodations.
This is one of several ads that they had all across the city. This particular ad was posted in the metro where literally thousands of people saw it everyday. I'm not sure on the total amount of people that visited the temple but it was around 7000 with a week to go. Elder Richard G. Scott had asked the members to create a list of friends, family, and associates to invite to the open house. So many members of the church heeded this counsel and I know that contributed a lot to the quantity of visitors.
