The entrance of the Rova of Antananarivo photographed in September 1940. Witness to the historical evolution of a kingdom, it bears the traces of different stages of political construction; it is a historical document. But these traces are also inscribed in space, the evolution of forms reflecting the different choices and diverse influences that marked the country. The Queen's Palace is also a history book." This is how Vincent Belrose Huygues begins his presentation of "The Rova of Tananarive, from Andrianjaka to Radama I: an example of aesthetic syncretism in the 19th century." Two centuries separate Andrianjaka and Andrianampoinimerina, with the first's Rova transformed through enlargement and additions. The author begins with a description of the Rova, which in a city or village is an enclosure delimited by a wall or palisade, reserved for the sovereign or his representative. Within this enclosure stand the Lapa, royal dwellings of the sovereign, his wives, and his entourage.
Under Andrianjaka, only the southern Rova existed. In his work on the kings of Imerina, R.P. Callet notes: "This one was arranged first; it is there that the 'Tranomasina Fitomiandalana' or the seven aligned tombs are found" ("Tantara ny Andriana eto Madagascar," translation by Chapus and E. Ratsimba). There are also the royal cases Masoandro-tsiroa and Besakana. In contrast, the northern Rova is the enclosure built by Radama I around the "Tranomasina," the author of the Rova presentation clarifies.
Andrianjaka chose the highest point of the Antananarivo site (1463 m), the current terrace of the Palace Church. The king cleared the summit of the hill then named Analamasina; the felled trees served to build cases and a Lapa. To reconstruct the primitive Rova, Belrose Huygues refers to the only remaining landmarks, the "Tranomasina." Until recently, they were located where Andrianjaka's successors placed them. Andrianjaka's tomb (the first) was then installed 30 meters further south and a few meters east of the current wall of Manjakamiadana, the Queen's Palace.
Architect Anthony Jully, in his work on "Housing in Madagascar" ("Notes, Reconnaissances et Explorations," 1898), which places this relocation in 1897, precisely notes the previous locations, allowing the Rova buildings to be repositioned roughly where they were erected. Apart from the tombs, "it is certain that all the Rova buildings underwent relocations." Their ancient locations always remained in relation to one another.
Thus, starting from the "Tranomasina," Belrose Huygues locates two cases of Andrianjaka's Rova. "Masoandrotsiroa south of the 'Tranomasina' (...), Besakana is west of the great square and east of the cattle enclosure" (R.P. Callet). But according to the historian, "the 'Kianja' (great court or arena), we learn further on, is south of the 'Tranomasina'." These two constructions and the cases that should have surrounded them have also disappeared.
Masoandrotsiroa was rebuilt by Andrianampoinimerina and then moved to Ambohimanga by Ranavalona I. Subsequently, the palace was destroyed in a fire "at the time of the queen's death." The historian clarifies, however, that "Masoandro palaces continued to succeed one another at the Rova, with each queen building her own." Regarding Besakana, tradition attributes its first construction to Andriamasinavalona. "These two Lapa were undoubtedly rebuilt by Andrianampoinimerina, to whom are generally attributed the constructions visible today" (that is, before the 1995 fire).
During Andrianjaka's time, besides Besakana and Masoandro, a "Kianja" with a sacred stone, Vatomasina, and a cattle enclosure outside the perimeter were established to the west. His tomb was placed to the north, according to a custom generalized throughout Madagascar. "The Rova possessed the structures of all subsequent Rova until 1869-1888, when a temple would be added. There was a structural 'model' of the Rova from Andrianjaka's reign and, undoubtedly, long before." As Belrose Huygues clarifies, the proof lies in the similarity of conception and nomenclature at the Rova of Ambohimanga and that of Antananarivo, "both restored by Andrianampoinimerina."
Pela Ravalitera