Photo essay
The forest that was never allowed to be cleared
The Osun-Osogbo grove survived because clearing it was forbidden, and became a UNESCO site by accident of that prohibition.
South-West
Osogbo
Osun State
7.7827° N, 4.5418° E
A river, a grove and a goddess — and a modernist art movement that grew out of all three.
About this place
The Osun-Osogbo grove on the edge of town is a stretch of riverine forest that was never cleared because it was never allowed to be. It is now a UNESCO site, dense with shrines and with the sculptures Susanne Wenger and her Nigerian collaborators made from the 1950s onward. The annual festival draws the diaspora home in a way few Nigerian events do.
Everything from Osogbo
1 story, newest first.
History in Osogbo
Photo essay
The forest that was never allowed to be cleared
The Osun-Osogbo grove survived because clearing it was forbidden, and became a UNESCO site by accident of that prohibition.
Where to go next
Editorial adjacency rather than distance — somewhere it makes sense to go from here.
