The chic Royal Palace of Rova is one of the main and most notable attractions not only of Antananarivo, but also in the whole of Madagascar. A beautiful complex of buildings: the Palace itself, the chapel, and the Royal tombs, located on the hill of Analamanga, is a historical monument and an example of admirable pre-colonial architecture, which shows the power and strength of the country.
The first buildings on the territory of the future Rova Manjakamiadana appeared on the hill in the middle of the 17 century. These were fortifications, and their purpose was to defend the settlement. They were not very beautiful, but all the buildings were incredibly reliable and strong.
Over time, the number of buildings increased. And in the 1820s, it was decided to build a Royal residence here, as in the safest place. So five palaces appeared on the hill. The largest and most beautiful was the wooden palace of Manjakamiadana (Queen's Palace), built for Ranavalona I, the first woman on the Royal throne.
A few decades later, a chapel appeared on the territory of the palace complex. It was built on the orders of Queen Ranavalona II, who converted to Christianity and brought new rules and traditions to the country. Besides, she lifted her predecessor's ban on building stone houses and ordered the wooden palace to be completely faced with beautiful light beige granite in 1867. After these works, the tracery palace, due to the huge number of arches, began to look even more elegant and majestic.
The luxury complex, which you could see from anywhere in the city, served as the Royal residence until 1896, when Madagascar became a French colony. The new government overthrew the local monarchs and organized a historical museum on the territory of the complex.
In 1995, just a few days before the planned listing of the palace in the UNESCO world heritage list, a huge fire started here, which destroyed all the adjacent wooden buildings and severely damaged the Manjakamiadana palace. Many artifacts of historical and cultural significance were destroyed.
Thanks to painstaking work, historians and architects were able to restore the historical complex. The chapel and Royal tombs are the most preserved, so they can be called authentic. The rest of the buildings, unfortunately, are restored replicas using the surviving materials. But this does not detract from their beauty and grandeur.
Today, the historical and art museums are located here.