diaspora & heritage
sites, stories, and connections linking Ouidah to the global African diaspora — from the Atlantic crossing to Bahia, Cuba, and new orleans.
The Afro-Brazilian Cathedral
A neo-Gothic church built facing the Python Temple, now the visual symbol of how Catholicism and Vodun coexist in Ouidah
Facing the Python Temple, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is Ouidah's most striking Catholic building. Its history, its 1903-1909 construction, and what its location says about the town.
The Brazilian Heritage
Architecture, language, food and festivals: what the Aguda community brought back from Brazil and still keeps alive in Ouidah today
In Ouidah, Brazilian heritage is not just sobrado facades. It lives in the food, the language, the carnival, the family names. What the Aguda really brought back from Brazil.
Zomachi, the memorial of repentance
On the Slave Route, a grassroots memorial that hosted the march of repentance from 1998 until its demolition in 2024
Zomachi, "the place where the light never goes out," was a slave-trade memorial on Ouidah's Slave Route, created by Professor Honorat Aguessy. Home to a march of repentance since 1998, it was demolished in 2024.
3 pillars in this category
Commencer vos recherches
Nos archivistes et notaires accompagnent la diaspora dans la reconstitution de leur arbre généalogique et l'acquisition de la citoyenneté.