How Mukurwe Wa Nyagathanga shrine of Agikuyu lost its shine

A half-built structure in the middle of the Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga shrine compound [Willis Awandu, Standard]

Mukurwe Wa Nyagathanga, the shrine and cultural heritage site believed to be home of the Agikuyu community’s ancestral parents - Gikuyu and Mumbi - has been a treasure to residents for decades.

The shrine is a significant landmark to the Agikuyu because of its ancestral, spiritual and cultural heritage. From time immemorial, the shrine was considered sacred to the Agikuyu people.

It was a place of offering sacrifices to Mwene-Nyaga (god), and this was mostly done when the community was faced with calamities such as famine, epidemics, drought, internal conflict and wars against local or foreign invaders.