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In the Rova of Antananarivo during the period of the Merina royalty, it was taboo to use any other construction materials apart from wood to build the royal house. On her accession to the throne, Queen Ranavalona II ended this tradition and introduced stone specifically for the construction of the Rova church. Because of the very nature of the construction entirely in wood, the Rova was annihilated during a fire on 6 November 1995 in a few hours, watched helplessly by the population. Only the stone walls of the church were capable of resisting this catastrophe, but everything in wood went up in flames (roofs, beams, furnishings, decoration). This was why out of all the buildings in the Rova, it was the first to be entirely restored and this was done fairly quickly when, ten years after the criminal fire, work on the reconstruction of the site began.
The word ''rova'' designates the group of royal houses constructed within a wooden wall which no one dared to enter as it was the residence of the sovereign having the earthy status of God the Creator and stemming from this, everything connected with him (his house, his personal belongings, his herds of zebus, the water he drank, etc.) was considered sacred and violation of the these prohibitions was punishable by death. The founder of the Rova of Antananarivo was King Andrianjaka who reigned there from 1610 to circa 1630: there he first built two houses entirely in wood for himself and his family and whose architecture had remained the same over centuries; subsequently other buildings appeared, each bearing a name as at this time writing was unknown, this was the means devised for each sovereign to mark his passage on earth. The Rova with its wooden houses has existed for six centuries. Each new sovereign had the duty of repairing these houses damaged by the elements or to build a new one. Out of respect for the first King Andrianjaka, all his successors have continued to maintain his two houses named Besakana and Masoandrotsiora which survived throughout the ages. Two sovereigns have contributed to the present-day aspect of the Rova: King Andrianampoinimerina and Queen Ranavalona I. The latter had the largest mansion, named Manjakamiadana, built by Jean Laborde as well as the surrounding stone retaining wall. The site of Manjakamiadana has become the symbol of the city of Antananarivo.
=== Manjakamiadana ===