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A wharenui (; literally "large house") is a communal house of the Māori people of New Zealand, generally situated as the focal point of a marae. Wharenui are usually called meeting houses in New Zealand English, or simply called (a more generic term simply referring to any house or building). Also called a whare rūnanga ("meeting house") or whare whakairo (literally "carved house"), the present style of wharenui originated in the early to middle nineteenth century. The houses are often carved inside and out with stylized images of the iwi's (or tribe's) ancestors, with the style used for the whakairo varying from tribe to tribe. Modern meeting houses are built to regular building standards. Photographs of recent ancestors may be used as well as carvings. The houses always have names, sometimes the name of a famous ancestor or sometimes a figure from Māori mythology. Some meeting houses are built at places that are not the location of a tribe, but where many Māori gather; typically, a school or tertiary institution with many Māori students.
While a meeting house is considered sacred, it is not a church or house of worship, but religious rituals may take place in front of or inside a meeting house. On most marae, no food may be taken into the meeting house.Prickett (1982). p. 132
The introduction of steel tools by European settlers enabled the size and scale of wharenui to increase, and wharenui built from the 1840s onwards became the direct antecedents of the style and structure of modern wharenui. Taiporohenui, constructed at Manawapou (near modern day Mokoia in South Taranaki) in the 1850s, was 27.6 metres long and 9.2 metres wide. The size and scale of Taiporohenui symbolised the opposition of Māori to European settlement and colonisation of traditional lands. Te Kooti oversaw the construction of three massive wharenui during the New Zealand Wars. The first, Tanewhirinaki, which was completed in the late 1860s and located at Waioeka, was painted in black, pink and white. Construction of Te Whai-a-te-Motu at Ruatāhuna began in 1870, and was eventually completed in 1888. The third, Te Tokanganui-a-Noho, was constructed at Te Kūiti in 1873, after Te Kooti retreated behind the border of the King Country. These wharenui were used for meetings, church services and accommodation. After the construction of Te Tokanganui-a-Noho, very few wharenui were created for decades, and those which were built were simpler and uncarved.
By the 1920s, marae and wharenui had become a symbol of Māori cultural identity, especially among people who were landless. Āpirana Ngata was a proponent of reviving wharenui as a symbol of Māori identity and mana. Waikato Tainui leader Te Puea Hērangi was a large proponent of the re-development of marae in the country, leading to the construction of wharenui at Tūrangawaewae in Ngāruawāhia and Te Puea Memorial Marae, the first urban marae in Auckland.
During the 19th and early 20th century, missionaries and Christians condemned whakairo depicting genitalia, and removed penises of ancestors from the carvings on wharenui. Opposition to carvings depicting genitalia decreased cease in the 1940s.
Other important components include:
The marae ātea is a very important open space directly in front of the wharenui, which is used to welcome visitors onto the marae and serves as an area on which to debate issues.
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