When the government of Western Nigeria established the University of Ife in 1961, the country was only a year old. When classes commenced the following year, Unife had the opportunity to proclaim the modernity of the young nation through its breadth of studies, as well as its appearance. The University controverted late colonial views concerning tertiary education. The Western Region had hosted the University of Ibadan since 1948, and by 1959 plans were underway for the North to construct Zaria’s Ahmadu Bello University and the Eastern Region to build the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The British had recommended Lagos as the next university site, but the Western Region decided they needed a second university outside the capital. They considered numerous potential cities, and their chosen architect, Arieh Sharon, suggested Ile-Ife should be selected. In 1960, Sharon and Nigerian planners toured universities in many parts of the world, considering design, planning features, and suitability of architecture to site. Levin suggests Sharon was particularly impacted not only by the schools he examined, but by the spatial arrangements of Maya centers in Mexico—tight, interconnected complexes surrounded by lush greenery, with several buildings conceptualized as inverted pyramids.

Arieh Sharon (1900-1984), a well-known Israeli architect, designed the university in 1961. A number of African institutions looked to Israel in the early years of independence, partially because it had rapidly created a progressive nation with original cultural attributes, and partially because its climate was closer to that of Africa than many European countries. Sharon had trained at the Bauhaus in Germany in the 1920s before moving to Tel Aviv where he created numerous government buildings, kibbutzim, and communities. He brought experience in designing for hot climates to Nigeria, as well as intimate familiarity with Modernism—the latter a way to reshape the image of Africa as a forward-moving continent. His OAU buildings varied in their dates of construction, but are made mainly from concrete, designed to accommodate the tropical climate and sun exposure, with ventilation provided through open hallways and stairways.

The Main Core is the pedestrian-only heart of the campus and features both administrative buildings and general student service spaces. Its composition was originally planned for the Secretariat, the Assembly Hall, the Hezekiah Oluwasanmi Library (named after OAU’s second vice-chancellor), and four Faculties--Humanities, Law, Administration, and Social Science. All were arranged around a green quadrangle and interconnected through paths, the uneven terrain necessitating terraces and ramps. Jutting rooflines and roofed walkways afforded protection from both sun and downpours in the rainy season. The Humanities buildings were erected between 1963 and 1965, their stark shapes resembling reversed pyramids. The strong horizontals of their cantilevers visually link them to the nearby library (1966). The Secretariat (1968) was designed to house the university administration and act as a student center; a non-objective sculpture acts as a gate to the Modernist structure. The Faculty of Education Building (1970) echoes the shape of the Humanities building with another upside-down pyramid design, but its proportions differ. Like many of Sharon’s Israeli structures, it is raised to promote air circulation below the building. The Assembly Hall (now Oduduwa Hall), constructed from 1972 to 1976, is the Core’s most flamboyant building. Designed with an adjacent amphitheatre, it has a dramatic shallow-steps approach from the plaza. The main building holds 1400, while the amphitheatre can house a larger audience of 3500. Its exterior includes organic forms in white against a darker concrete. While this pattern is not particularly Yoruba, it is pseudo-African in its abstraction, part of a limited intent to make the architecture site-specific. Other Sharon inclusions, such as the concrete column and striated surface treatments, are also intended as references to the ancient city that became the university’s home.

Sharon was also responsible for the early residence halls (1964), but construction did not cease with the completion of his work at OAU with his son Eldar Sharon, Harold Rubin, and AMY Ltd. Later University structures by other architects followed his Modernist lead. Notable additions include the Faculty of Health and Sciences building, which exemplifies repetitive rectilinear designs from neutral tones such as brown and ivory, and the locally-dubbed “Spider,” the Civil Engineering building.

One of University’s most notable buildings is its Natural History Museum. Its existence was first broached in 1971, but it was not finished and commissioned until 2011. Designed by architect Patrick Ehinmowo and his firm Platform Concept Ltd., it is one of the most adventurous and notable Modernist museum exteriors in West Africa. Its very geometric design emphasizes the triangular and pyramidal roofing, which recalls the upside-down pyramid designs of the Faculty of Education and Humanities buildings. The exterior’s neutral browns further tie it to Awolowo Hall and the Health and Sciences building, among others. The museum includes taxidermy specimens, 20,000 plants within a herbarium, and archaeological specimens from Ife.

Apart from its varied architecture, OAU’s landscaping keeps it from being a series of concrete islands. The buildings are integrated with the surrounding palm trees via numerous green spaces that surround the main structures. Concrete expanses are even broken up by small framed triangles of grass.

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Lagos-based sculptor Aina Samuel constructed the Aare sculpture that was installed in 2016—just a year after HRM Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II became the Ooni of Ife. It stood in front of the palace on a small roundabout near the Oke-Mogun shrine, a sacred spot that is the focus of October’s Olojo Festival dedicated to Ogun, god of iron.

The sculpture represented the Aare, a specific beaded crown worn by the Ooni at his coronation and once annually during the festival. Its extensive, dark-toned blue and red “beading” contrasted with the surrounding features of then-nearby Afewonro Park. Its overall design was geometric, its triangles referring to the Yoruba cosmos. The colors were sectioned into three individual chromatic groups divided into sections of white, red, and black, although its cascading fringe was multicolored.

While conical beaded crowns are worn by the Ooni and other Yoruba monarchs (oba) who are descendants of Oduduwa, the first ruler of Ife, the Aare’s design differs from them in shape and decoration. Like an ordinary man’s dog-eared cloth cap (fila abeti-ajá), it has two flat curved-seamed sides. Some monarchs wear beaded versions as informal crowns; these can include a full or partial beaded veil that hides the individuality of the monarch and also protects the viewer from the medicine-empowered gaze of the oba, directing focus to the crown itself.

The Aare is more elaborate than these informal crowns, however. Its multi-colored beaded veil extends to the Ooni’s calves, and it includes several bead projections on a mica rondel, as well as parrot feathers, white okin feathers, and a group of bulbous elements at the nape. Unlike other Yoruba formal crowns (ade)—some of which the Ooni also owns—it lacks abstract beaded faces, birds, and interlace motifs.

Although the palace states the Aare crown dates to the time of Oduduwa, Ife’s legendary first king, its form and decoration differ substantially from the crowns that appear on terracottas and bronzes dating from the 11th–15th century. Except for the large carnelian (okun or lantana) beads sewn along the crown’s crest and protruding from its badge, today’s Aare is decorated with seed beads that were not available in Nigeria until the 19th century. Earlier crowns were made of large stone lantana from the Ilorin region or glass beads produced in Ife itself at the Olokun Grove, where crucibles were found, although they too bore a round badge (albeit with different details) at the front, absent from other Yoruba crowns.

The actual crown’s symbolic elements include the round badge made from mica, a material inserted in some of the pottery found in archaeological sites at Ife. The four beads that project from it represent an important number, critical to Ifa divination and its orisha, Orunmila; a further suggestion is that they represent the palace’s supports. The Aare’s red tail feathers from the African grey parrot are associated with prophecy and witchcraft, and signify the Ooni shares the powers of the witches but is superior to them and can serve as a supernatural protector.

One of the most important elements of the Aare is the hidden medicine within it. When worn by the Ooni, he incarnates Oduduwa, the first Yoruba ruler, as well as Ogun, whom the Olojo festival honors. Most of this medicine’s ingredients are secret, but Aare is said to be unusually heavy because it includes objects sacred to Ogun, including cutlasses and hoes. It also apparently includes a palm nut, referring to divination apparatus, and the bark of a tree (aginla or asorin) associated with the powers of witchcraft that represents the royal ancestors. The Ooni should never gaze upon the inside of his crown, lest he dies.

When he is laid to rest, his Aare is buried with him, although certain elements are removed and incorporated in his successor’s version. The crown itself is held to be a deity; sacrifices are made to it and it rests in its own palace chamber.

At some point after July 2018, the sculpture was removed from the roundabout. A large replica of the Aare, however, has been incorporated into the decorated stands erected for the Olojo festival from 2018 on.

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The Oduduwa monument can be found within the grounds of Afewonro Park, located in Enuwa Square near the Ooni’s palace. The fiberglass figure, at the center of the city, represents Oduduwa, the Yoruba orisha or deity who descended from the heavens to become the first monarch. Two main versions of the Yoruba creation myth exist. In one, Obatala descended from the heavens with a calabash of sand and a chicken--the primordial ocean lay below. The chickens scratched out the sand, land formed, and the other orisha followed Obatala/Orisanla down the chain. He then created human beings. A second version, subscribed to in Ife, states that Obatala stopped on the way to his task, drank palm wine, and fell asleep. The High God Olodumare sent Oduduwa to find out what had happened, and Oduduwa completed the job. Once land was formed, he descended an iron chain to Oke Ora, a hill just outside Ife, and from there settled in the town itself.  

At some point before 2001, the sculptor Abuede, a Lagos-based artist, created the sculpture of Oduduwa grasping a staff resembling that of an Ifa diviner in his right hand. He wears a traditional Yoruba flowing, toga-like, unembroidered cloth. Upon his head is the famous aare beaded crown. Its characteristic shape--flattened, curved halves, along with the addition of a protruding crest at the forehead and the iconic cascading beaded fringe--are features of the actual crown. Although this crown, unique to Ife, is identified with the Ooni (monarch of Ife), it is quite different from the crowns that appear on sculpture from the 11th-15th centuries. The beading arrangement on the statue's neck and torso, however, imitate the royal jewelry arrangement visible on these early sculptures. The medicine horn grasped in Oduduwa's left hand also mimics these celebrated bronzes. The contemporary sculpture is more realistic than its naturalistic antecedents, however, for it has natural proportions and unidealized features that include smile lines.

Afewonro Park consists of a fenced-in section of the narrow triangle of land bounded by roads, just outside the Ooni's palace. It was the site of both of the current monarch's formal installation and the interdenominational service that honored his predecessor. It was formed not long before 2001, having been used as an informal gathering place and mosque before then. Its green lawn and flowers also host the masonry Tower of Independence, a colonial-style clocktower.

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