Ataoja's Palace: Larooye Monument

This monument to Oba Larooye Gbadewolu, the first Ataoja of Osogbo, is a centrepiece of the Palace of Osogbo. Oba Larooye is believed to have made the pact with the Osun goddess, that if she would protect and bless the town, the people of Osogbo would honour and bring offerings to her yearly. This pact is affirmed in the annual Osun Osogbo Festival, which is now the most celebrated of its kind in Nigeria today. The sacred forest preserve that houses the shrine to the Osun deity was declared a National Heritage Site in 1965, and subsequently designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, bringing worldwide recognition to the Grove and its goddess. Osun Osogbo is a ten to fourteen-day festival held in August of each year. It culminates in a massive procession to the Osun Grove where the king, the Ataoja of Osogbo, conducts rituals with sacred objects carried by the Arugba (Priestess and Votary Maid) to the Osun Shrine.