London, GB | Formerly of New York, Buenos Aires, Fife, and the Western Cape. | Saoránach d’Éirinn.

The Rova of Antananarivo

The Rova of Antananarivo

The Tranovola (left) and Manjakamiadana (right) in the Rova of Antananarivo.

The Manjakamiadana (“Where It is Pleasant to Rule”) was the royal residence, later pretentiously clad in stone by Protestant missionaries, while the Tranovola (“Silver House”) was where the nefarious Rainivoninahitriniony received foreign diplomats after the nobles’ coup of 1863.

His complicity in the supposed regicide of that year — no one’s really quite sure what happened to Radama II — eventually led to his downfall two years later. His younger brother Rainilaiarivony proved a more skilful political operator, succeding Rainivoninahitriniony as prime minister and arranging his own marriage to the last three queens of the Merina kingdom of Madagascar.

Published at 9:00 am on Tuesday 19 January 2016. Categories: Architecture History Tags: , , .
Comments

Anybody got a recording of these people actually saying those hallucinogenic names?
I knew someone from Thailand some thirty years ago whose name I would never have remembered if he had not actually spoken it. Because he did I still know it by heart: Konkasem Kasemsri. It’s the rhythm.
And what were the queens called?
.

— Van Nostrand 19 Jan 2016 7:09 pm

Queen Rasoherina (born Princess Rabodozanakandriana in 1814), Queen Ranavalona II (born Princess Ramoma, 1829) who Christianised the court (Protestant, alas), and the final Queen Ranavalona III whom the French exiled to Algiers where she became a patroness of the local Red Cross.

— Andrew Cusack 19 Jan 2016 11:48 pm
Leave a comment

NAME (required)

EMAIL (required)

WEBSITE (not required)

COMMENT

Home | About | Contact | Paginated Index | Twitter | Facebook | RSS/Atom Feed
andrewcusack.com | © Andrew Cusack 2004-present (Unless otherwise stated)