Madagascar

La Haute Ville d’Antananarivo

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  • Wojciech Fedoruk

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  • Alexander Lehmann
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La Haute Ville d’Antananarivo is a hill in the Malagasy capital where the Merina king Andrianjaka had his palace built in 1610. The property includes major historic buildings, public spaces, sacred places, and historical routes. The Upper Town is a true testimony to the influence and role played by royal architecture in the urban development of the city. It is an urban site of great heritage quality, both in terms of its architectural buildings and its exceptional landscape setting.

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Official Information
Full Name
La Haute Ville d’Antananarivo (ID: 6078)
Country
Madagascar
Status
On tentative list 2016 Site history
History of La Haute Ville d’Antananarivo
2016: Added to Tentative List
Added to tentative list
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UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
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UNESCO.org
News Article
  • June 29, 2020 malaymail.com — Madagascar’s ‘Colosseum’ sparks outrage

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First published: 27/06/23.

Els Slots

La Haute Ville D’Antananarivo

La Haute Ville d’Antananarivo (On tentative list)

La Haute Ville d’Antananarivo by Els Slots

The Upper Town of the Malagasy capital Antananarivo (Tana) is an architectural mix of Asian and European influences, following the tastes of the country’s royal and political elite during the 19th century. It lies on top of the highest hill of Tana, a daunting city with millions of inhabitants that developed like an inverted La Paz. Here the ‘important’ people started living uphill, and the further you go down the poorer it gets. It felt perfectly safe to walk around in the Upper Town by myself. Only near the Rova (the Queen’s palace) I encountered some wannabe guides, but they quickly gave up offering their services when I ignored them.

As I was staying in a guesthouse already halfway uphill, I covered the area on foot all the way. If you come from the lower areas of Tana, such as near the lake, it would be advisable to take a taxi to the Rova and then walk down. My walk started with some 300 steps up the historical Escalier Tavao – in the early morning, this is used as an outdoor gym by the muscular boys of the city. They help each other with their routines, such as doing squats all the way up and down.

Once you’ve finished the stairs, the remaining route is fairly easy. In total, I walked only 7km during the 3.5 hours that I spent in the area. A good first stop along the way is the Museum of Photography: a modern building …

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