Case file · Folklore / legend
The Osun-Osogbo sacred grove
In 2005 UNESCO listed the Osun-Osogbo grove in Nigeria, the forest home of the river goddess Osun, who tradition says promised to protect the town's founders if they honoured her.
2005 CE · 7.76, 4.55 · status: official
The account
The Austrian artist Susanne Wenger, who became an Osun priestess, worked with local artists from the 1950s to restore the shrines and fill the grove with sculptures. The annual Osun festival draws large crowds and diaspora pilgrims.