1,940 years after the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple, a building plan has been authorized in São Paulo, Brazil, to build a 180 foot high replica of Solomon’s Temple. The replica will serve as an evangelical Christian church that will be able to seat 10,000 people.  Modern technology will allow this edifice to be constructed in four years. It is thought that it took twenty-three years to build the Second Temple over 2,000 years ago.

The New York Times reports:

This week, as Jews around the world observed the fasting day of Tisha B’av, commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Jewish Temples in ancient Jerusalem, a Brazilian megachurch received planning permission to build a 10,000-seat replica of Solomon’s Temple in the city of São Paulo.

As Tom Phillips of The Guardian noted, a Brazilian newspaper, Estado de São Paulo, reported that the church will cost an estimated $200 million and should be completed in four years.

According to a post on the blog of Bishop Edir Macedo, the founder of Brazil’s evangelical Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, which is building the replica, the structure will be 180 feet high, making it nearly twice as tall as the Christ the Redeemer statue that towers over Rio de Janeiro. Mr. Macedo also said that stones of the same type used by Solomon had been ordered from Jerusalem to be used in a complex which will also house 36 Bible schools, television and radio studios and a 1,000-space parking lot.

Read the New York Times post here and the report from the Guardian here.