View of Mānoa Valley from Kūka‘ō‘ō Heiau

Lower path to Heiau

North Wall of Kūka‘ō‘ō Heiau

Kūka‘ō‘ō Heiau

For hundreds, perhaps nearly a thousand years, Kūka‘ō‘ō Heiau has watched over Mānoa Valley. Said to have been originally built by the Menehune, this heiau reflects the long and dynamic history of the Hawaiian Islands. Historical evidence suggests that the heiau eventually became an agricultural temple of the māpele class, dedicated to the rites and rituals surrounding food productivity. Restored in 1993, Kūka‘ō‘ō Heiau survives as the last intact Hawaiian temple in the greater ahupua‘a of Waikīkī and remains an extraordinary link to the past.