Sword of Okomfo Anokye

Legendary sword said to have stood in the earth here for three centuries

In the grounds of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, an unassuming small structure houses what is said to be one of the most important sacred objects in the Ashanti world. The sword sits in a glass-roofed enclosure, partly buried in the earth, and is shown to visitors for a small donation by an attendant.

It is a quietly extraordinary thing — a piece of living mythology in the middle of a working hospital car park. The visit takes ten minutes if you do not linger; the story stays with you longer than that. Ask at the hospital reception for directions.

things to do sight
A story
According to Ashanti tradition, the priest Okomfo Anokye plunged this sword into the ground in the late seventeenth century while calling down the Golden Stool — the spiritual seat of the Ashanti nation — from the sky. The kingdom, the legend says, will endure for as long as the sword remains in place. Every attempt to pull it out, including reportedly one by Muhammad Ali during a visit in the 1960s, has failed.