Muramvya, Mpotsa et Nkiko-Mugamba

Photo by Roman Bruehwiler.

Les paysages naturels sacrés de Muramvya, de Mpotsa et de Nkiko-Mugamba is part of the Tentative list of Burundi in order to qualify for inclusion in the World Heritage List.

The sacred natural landscapes of Muramvya, Mpotsa and Nkiko-Mugamba comprise royal sites that reflect the whole circuit of the enthronement (a procession route, planting of a sacred grove), the reign and the burial of kings and queens. Each king or clan had his own 'capital': a court with a palace, residences, place of worship, and granaries. The main capitals were found in the current province of Muramvya, notably in Mbuye, Muramvya, Bukeye and Kiganda.

The queen mothers had great political power and were buried at a separate location, the Mpotsa sanctuary. The kings were buried far away from their capitals. The hills and groves are also of natural value and hold plant species such as ficus and dragon trees.

Map of Muramvya, Mpotsa et Nkiko-Mugamba

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The coordinates shown for all tentative sites were produced as a community effort. They are not official and may change on inscription.

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Zoë Sheng

Chinese-Canadian - 10-Jan-24 -

Les paysages naturels sacrés de Muramvya, de Mpotsa et de Nkiko-Mugamba (T) by Zoë Sheng

This entry is just odd and I don't even want to try and understand what exactly wants to be inscribed. There is a "mansion" house (look like from the 60s and hardly special) with a neat broken tomb and somehow there is a museum nearby. Does the tribal houses museum belong to the entry? Also the building at Muramwvya is shut, abandoned and not used in decades. This is the easiest site to visit. For the second one would need some more effort by bus, perhaps private car on the small road if you dare, and the third is off-road so I don't think it's possible to visit at all. Or maybe it just means the fields in that area overall - well guess what they are not special... So not to be rude to Burundi customs, history or the locals, these places are not worth visiting, not universally unique and even if by chance someone with a lot of knowledge about all this would guide me through the locations step by step and tell me all about it, I don't think it would be interesting to me at all, no worth my time, no thank you. I don't think it's significant enough to be a world heritage site. 


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Full Name
Les paysages naturels sacrés de Muramvya, de Mpotsa et de Nkiko-Mugamba
Country
Burundi
Added
2007
Type
Mixed
Categories
Cultural Landscape - Associative
Link
By ID
2007 Added to Tentative List

The site has 3 locations

Les paysages naturels sacrés de Muramvya, de Mpotsa et de Nkiko-Mugamba: Royal Palace at Muramvya (T)
Les paysages naturels sacrés de Muramvya, de Mpotsa et de Nkiko-Mugamba: Kiganda (T)
Les paysages naturels sacrés de Muramvya, de Mpotsa et de Nkiko-Mugamba: Mpotsa necropolis (approximate) (T)

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