Waharoa

The Waharoa, in Auckland

The Waharoa is an impressive Maori sculpture of the Aotea Square, a traditional gateway of wood and copper, made in 1990 by the artist Selwyn Muru. The Auckland audio-guided tour stops here, with respect, to evoke this work charged with spirituality, that represents four Maori deities and transforms the square into a gathering place, in the manner of a marae.

The gateway of the Maori gods

The Aotea Square, in addition to being surrounded by great cultural buildings, reveals an impressive sculpture: the Waharoa. About seven metres high, it represents a traditional Maori gateway, made of wood and copper, and it is the sculptor Selwyn Muru, of Maori origin, who made it in 1990. In Maori culture, the waharoa is the entrance gateway of a marae, the sacred community space where the ceremonies are held; by placing such a gateway at the entrance of the square, the work symbolically transforms the Aotea Square into a gathering place with a spiritual dimension. The sculpture represents, with respect, four major deities of the Maori pantheon: Tama-nui-te-ra, the god of the sun, Tangaroa, god of the sea and the fish, Tane-mahuta, the god of the forests and the birds, and Tawhiri-matea, the god of the winds, the rain and the storms. You also find there crescent moons and stars, that evoke the cosmology and the navigation of the Polynesian ancestors. It must be known that the Maoris represent today about seventeen percent of the New Zealand population, and that they are the first people to have settled on these islands. The Waharoa pays homage to this heritage and invites, with gravity, to recognise the place of Maori culture in the heart of the modern town. A sacred gateway and a homage to the ancestors, the Waharoa is discovered with respect.

What to see

Here you discover, with respect, the impressive Maori gateway of wood and copper, about seven metres high, made in 1990 by the sculptor Selwyn Muru; in the manner of the waharoa of a marae, it makes the Aotea Square a gathering place and represents four Maori deities, the sun, the sea, the forests and the winds, as well as crescent moons and stars. The Waharoa is a homage to the Maori culture of Auckland. It is a stop to be discovered with respect.

Practical information

The Waharoa stands at the entrance of the Aotea Square, in the heart of the centre of Auckland, reachable on foot. It is an open-air work freely visible, to be discovered with the respect due to its cultural and spiritual dimension. You discover it during a walk on the square.

What does the Waharoa represent in Auckland?

A traditional Maori gateway, in the manner of the waharoa of a marae, that makes the Aotea Square a gathering place; made of wood and copper in 1990 by the sculptor Selwyn Muru, it represents four Maori deities, Tama-nui-te-ra the sun, Tangaroa the sea, Tane-mahuta the forests and Tawhiri-matea the winds, as well as crescent moons and stars.

Where is the Waharoa in Auckland?

At the entrance of the Aotea Square, in the heart of the centre of Auckland, in New Zealand.