Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove

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Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove: A Cultural and Spiritual Haven in Southwestern Nigeria

The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, stands as a significant cultural and spiritual landmark in southwestern Nigeria. This dense forest, located on the outskirts of the bustling city of Osogbo, represents one of the last remaining expanses of primary high forest in the region.

UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

The dense forest of the Osun Sacred Grove, on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo, is one of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria. Regarded as the abode of the goddess of fertility Osun, one of the pantheon of Yoruba gods, the landscape of the grove and its meandering river is dotted with sanctuaries and shrines, sculptures and art works in honour of Osun and other deities. The sacred grove, which is now seen as a symbol of identity for all Yoruba people, is probably the last in Yoruba culture. It testifies to the once widespread practice of establishing sacred groves outside all settlements.

UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site

Criterion (ii): The development of the movement of New Sacred Artists and the absorption of Suzanne Wenger, an Austrian artist, into the Yoruba community have proved to be a fertile exchange of ideas that revived the sacred Osun Grove ;

Criterion (iii): The Osun Sacred Grove is the largest and perhaps the only remaining example of a once widespread phenomenon that used to characterise every Yoruba settlement. It now represents Yoruba sacred groves and their reflection of Yoruba cosmology.

Criterion (vi): The Osun Grove is a tangible expression of Yoruba divinatory and cosmological systems; its annual festival is a living thriving and evolving response to Yoruba beliefs in the bond between people, their ruler and the Osun goddess.

Encyclopedia Record: Osun-Osogbo

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