Door of No Return

About this place

The Door of No Return is a memorial arch on the beach at Ouidah in southern Benin, remembering the Africans taken by force from the port of Ouidah to the Americas. It stands at the end of the Slave Route, a road of about four kilometres from the town centre to the sea. Visitors from Benin and the African diaspora come here to remember those who left and never returned. The architect Yves Ahouen-Gnimon designed the memorial with Beninese artists: Fortuné Bandeira carved the columns and reliefs, and others made the bronze figures. Along the road are stations that tell the story, including the auction square, the Tree of Forgetting, the house of waiting, the mass grave memorial and finally the Tree of Return. You see a tall white concrete arch topped by a wide bronze panel of chained figures walking in a single line. A long sandy path lined with short white posts leads to it, with the ocean right behind. Palm trees and a broad paved square surround it. Late afternoon is best, when the heat eases. It is about 4 km from the Ouidah Museum of History in a straight line and about 37 km from Cotonou. You can walk or ride a motorbike taxi along the Slave Route. It is a place of remembrance, so treat it with respect. The waves are strong, so do not swim here.