Pictures From the Osogbo Sacred Grove

Busanyin a sacred location along the osun river

The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is a large cultural landscape of undisturbed forest near the city of Osogbo in southwestern Nigeria. Dedicated to Osun, the

Yoruba goddess of fertility, the area was established more than four centuries ago and is the largest of the sacred groves that have survived to the present. The Osun River meanders through the protected area, with sanctuaries and shrines erected along its course.
Set within the forest sanctuary are forty shrines, sculptures and art works erected in honour of Osun and other Yoruba deities, many created in the past forty years, two palaces, five sacred places and nine worship points strung along the river banks with designated priests and priestesses.

The 1950s saw the desecration of the Osun-Osogbo Grove: shrines were neglected, priests abandoned the grove as customary responsibilities and sanctions weakened. Prohibited actions like fishing, hunting and felling of trees in the grove took place until Austrian,,Sussane Wenger came and stopped the abuse going on in the grove.

With the encouragement of the Ataoja and the support of the local people, "Wenger formed the New Sacred Art movement to challenge land speculators, repel poachers, protect shrines and begin the long process of bringing the sacred place back to life by establishing it, again, at the sacred heart of Osogbo.