The Rova of Antananarivo ( ) is a royal palace complex (rova) in Madagascar that was the home of the sovereigns of the Kingdom of Imerina in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as of the rulers of the Kingdom of Madagascar in the 19th century. Located in the central highland city of Antananarivo, the Rova occupies the highest point on Analamanga, formerly the highest of Antananarivo's many hills.
Merina king Andrianjaka, who ruled Imerina from around 1610 until 1630, is believed to have captured Analamanga from a Vazimba king around 1610 or 1625 and erected the site's first fortified royal structure. Successive Merina kings continued to rule from the site until the fall of the monarchy in 1896, frequently restoring, modifying or adding royal structures within the compound to suit their needs.
A fire on the night of 6 November 1995 destroyed or damaged all the structures within the Rova complex shortly before it was due to be inscribed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Although officially declared an accident, rumours persist that politically motivated arson may have been the actual cause of the fire. The chapel and tombs, as well as Besakana and Mahitsielafanjaka, have since been fully restored with bilateral government donations, state funds and grants from intergovernmental and private donors. The restoration was completed at the end of 2025.
Background Madagascar's central highlands were first inhabited between 200 BCE–300 CE by the island's earliest settlers, the Vazimba, who appear to have arrived by pirogue from southeastern Borneo and established simple villages in the island's dense forests. By the 15th century, the Merina ethnic group from the southeastern coast had gradually migrated into the central highlands where they established hilltop villages interspersed among existing Vazimba settlements ruled by local kings. In the mid-16th century these royal Merina villages (rovas) — now fortified with stone walls, gateways and deep defensive trenches — were united under the rule of King Andriamanelo (1540–1575), who initiated the first military campaigns to expel or assimilate the Vazimb population by force. Villages inhabited by the andriana (noble) class established by Andriamanelo typically contained a rova or palace compound.
The rova's earliest defining features had crystallised among the Merina as residences for local rulers at least 100 years before the emergence of the united Kingdom of Imerina under Andriamanelo. According to custom, a rova's foundation was always elevated relative to the surrounding village. The compound also always featured a kianja (central courtyard) marked by a vatomasina (tall sacred stone) where the sovereign would stand to deliver kabary (royal speeches or decrees). Contained within the rova was at least one lapa (royal palace or residence) as well as the fasana (tomb) of one or more of the site's founders. The sovereign's lodgings typically stood in the northern part of the rova, while the spouse or spouses lived in the southern part. It was not until the dawn of the 19th century that a perimeter wall of sharpened wooden stakes would constitute another defining feature of rova construction.
History 1610–1792 The Rova of Antananarivo is located above sea level on Analamanga, originally the highest of the numerous hills in Antananarivo. Around 1610 Andrianjaka, king of Imerina and grandson of King Andriamanelo, ordered a garrison of 1,000 soldiers to seize the strategic site from its original Vazimba inhabitants. He reportedly succeeded with minimal bloodshed. According to oral history, the mere encampment of his army at the foot of Analamanga was sufficient to secure the submission of the Vazimba. Andrianjaka's army then cleared the forest covering the hill's summit and built a traditional rova to serve as an initial garrison, including an unnamed simple wooden house within it as a palace for the king. Soon afterward Andrianjaka built two more houses, reportedly named Masoandrotsiroa ("There Are Not Two Suns", also called Masoandro) and Besakana ("Great Breadth"). According to another account, Besakana may have been the name of the very first of the three houses Andrianjaka built within the Rova. The king also designated the construction site and design for the royal tombs he named Trano Masina Fitomiandalana ("Seven Sacred Houses Arranged in Order", also called Fitomiandalana), which were to be laid out in a line. Andrianjaka's own tomb was the first of these to be built.
Generations of Andrianjaka's successors through to his great-grandson King Andriamasinavalona (1675–1710) ruled over the united central highland kingdom of Imerina from the Rova of Antananarivo. These monarchs occasionally altered the compound and its buildings to suit their purposes. In particular, Besakana served as a primary royal residence and was repeatedly rebuilt, most notably for Andriamasinavalona who, according to oral history, had famously sought and then spared a human sacrifice in preparation for the endeavour. At some point prior to 1800, as the community of nobles inhabiting the Rova grew, the hilltop was lowered by to expand the amount of level land available for construction. Consequently, among the hills of Antananarivo, the hilltop of Analamanga is now second in height to that of Ambohimitsimbina to the south.
The role of the Rova as a seat of power for the Kingdom of Imerina changed when Andriamasinavalona chose to divide the kingdom into four provinces ruled by his favourite sons. Antananarivo became the capital of the southern Imerina province with the Rova as its seat of government. The site retained this role until the late 18th century, when King Andrianampoinimerina (1787–1810) of Ambohimanga led a series of attacks beginning in 1792 that culminated in the capture of Antananarivo and its incorporation into the newly reunified Kingdom of Imerina.
1792–1810
After Andrianampoinimerina reunited the divided and warring Kingdom of Imerina, he successfully pursued an expansionist policy that saw his authority extended over a large portion of Madagascar by the time of his death in 1810. Having captured Antananarivo by 1793 and transferred his capital from Ambohimanga to Antananarivo the following year, Andrianampoinimerina established new structures on the Rova grounds that would become imbued with the political and historic significance of his reign. In keeping with the tradition of Merina sovereigns before him, each building was assigned a name by which it could be distinguished. Several of the buildings were used interchangeably by the king as personal residences, including Manjakamiadana ("Where It is Pleasant to Rule"), Besakana, Manatsaralehibe ("Vast Improvement", also called Manatsara)—which he alone was authorised to enter — and Marivolanitra ("Beneath the Heavens"), a building reportedly designed with a staircase leading to a rooftop observation deck from which the king could observe the town and plains below.
A number of the Rova's buildings possessed unique design features. The modest wood building then known as Manjakamiadana was also called Felatanambola ("Silver Hands") for the hand-shaped sculptures crafted from melted silver piastres and attached to each of the building's four tandrotrano (roof horns) — an architectural design element formed from the crossed gable beams that extended past the roof line of all traditional aristocratic Merina houses. Felatanambola's decorative silver hands were later affixed to the roof horns of Besakana. Another distinctive building from this period was called Bevato ("Many Stones") because its foundation was atypically composed of stone blocks. Manatsara was said to be the most well constructed of the many houses because it was built using ambora (Tambourissa parrifolia), an extremely durable and rot-resistant indigenous hardwood, rather than a traditional wood called hazomena (Pterophylla rutenbergii). According to oral history, Manatsara was treasured by Andrianampoinimerina and the house was quite old but still well preserved in the mid-19th century when Queen Ranavalona I decided to recover its interior walls with wood taken from Sihanaka country.
Andrianampoinimerina's many wives and other family members occupied the majority of the buildings, most notably Mahitsielafanjaka ("That Which is Upright Rules Long", also called Mahitsy), the abode of wife Rabodonizimirahalahy, where the sampy (royal idol) called Manjakatsiroa was kept. Three other royal idols were kept on the Rova grounds, namely Rakelimalaza, Ramahavaly and Rafantaka, each of which were housed in their own separate buildings. Nanjakana ("Royal") was occupied by wives named Ramanantenasoa and Rasamona. Tsarazoky ("Good Eldest One") was the home of Ramiangaly, while Rasendrasoa, Andrianampoinimerina's principal wife, occupied Bado ("Stupid"). Rarihasana ("Armor of Sanctity") was inhabited by wives Ravaomanjaka and Razafinamboa; Andrianampoinimerina's son and heir, Radama I, would later offer this same house to Rasalimo, who eventually became one of Radama's wives. Three notable houses were inhabited by other family members. Andrianampoinimerina gave Besakana to his adopted daughter Ramavo (later to become Radama's wife and eventually Queen Ranavalona I). Andrianampoinimerina's sister, Ralaisoka, originally shared Besakana with Ramavo until a daughter named Ratsimanompo vacated a house called Fohiloha ("Short"), leaving Ralaisoka to occupy it alone. Masoandrotsiroa served as the residence of Ramavo's sister, Rangita, and an aunt named Rasalamo, a daughter of Andrianampoinimerina's grandfather King Andriambelomasina, was given a house named Rarisambo ("Fortified Ship").
At least two buildings were transported in their entirety onto or away from the Rova compound during Andrianampoinimerina's reign. Miandrivola ("Guarding Money") was moved from Ambohidrano to the Rova compound, where it was inhabited by one of the king's wives, Rafaravavy. The king also had Manatsara removed from Antananarivo to Ambohidrabiby.
1810–1896
Following unification of the greater part of the island under Merina rule in the 19th century, the palaces of the Rova served as the seat of power for successive sovereigns of the Kingdom of Madagascar, including King Radama I (1810–1828), Queen Ranavalona I (1828–1861), King Radama II (1861–1863), Queen Rasoherina (1863–1868), Queen Ranavalona II (1868–1883) and lastly Queen Ranavalona III (1883–1895), who ruled from the Rova until Madagascar's annexation by France. During his successful 1817 military campaign to pacify the east coast, Radama I — son and successor of Andrianampoinimerina — was favourably impressed by the houses he saw in Toamasina that had been built by newly arrived Creole merchants from Mauritius and Reunion. Radama invited one of them, a craftsman named Louis Gros, to return with him to Antananarivo to redesign Bevato as a home for his principal wife, Rasalimo. The new Bevato reportedly featured two stories, much like the houses Radama had seen in Toamasina.