Iya Moopo: High Among the Trees

Iya Moopo, the 'Great Mother,' is one of the most important shrines in the Sacred Grove. Iya Moopo protects women in all that they must do, from bearing children to their professions or trades.
Iya Moopo’s legs are extended and the folds of her traditional cloth “wrapper” are represented by delicate swirls of sculpted cement. Her face looks upward towards the divine.
She has three pairs of slender outstretched arms: one to receive, one to throw out sacred fertility and the third is the fist-over-fist gesture of the Ogboni or earth society. Some say that her six arms represent her ability, like all women, to do many things at once.
This magnificent sculpture was created by Susanne Wenger and Adebisi Akanji. Iya Moopo is over 19 meters high and 25 meters long and is made from cement, reinforced by iron rods and netting. It lies in the area of the Groves know as 'The Sacred Potter Field.' It is one of only three monuments in the field, three being a sacred number in the Yoruba tradition. Indigo dying and fabric making continue to be a very important profession in Osogbo.