A Historic Urban Landscape under siege: Challenges facing the rehabilitation and conservation of the HUL of Antananarivo
Challenges facing the rehabilitation and conservation of the HUL of Antananarivo
Author: Deanna MacDonald
UNESCO Forum: Historic Urban Landscape Conference, Hanoi, 2009
Antananarivo is a city of great potential. A capital of the Imerina Kingdom since the 16thcentury, the capital of a united Madagascar since the early 19th century and a French colonial city from 1896 until political independence in 1960, Antananarivo’s winding streets are lined with architecture and monuments from each era. Its historic centre, set on rolling red hills dotted with tropical trees and rice fields, holds architecture ranging from the stately palaces and sacred tombs of Malagasy royalty to neo-gothic churches and a French colonial train station. It is a highly unique Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), reflecting the history of the city. Well maintained, Antananarivo could be one of the most beautiful and fascinating capitals in Africa.
But it is not and the HUL of Antananarivo is under threat from all sides. Extreme poverty[1] has meant that much of Antananarivo’s HUL is neglected and often in near ruins. The concept of heritage and its values have been little understood or cared about by successive government administrations. One of the recent results of this lack of concern has been rapid and insensitive development that has seen the destruction of historic buildings to make way for new, often low quality construction. And since January 2009, political unrest has put the capital’s HUL at risk and seen historic buildings burnt and the city further impoverished.
This paper will consider why Antananarivo’s exceptional Historic Urban Landscape should be preserved and how it could be. The first part of the paper will be a brief introduction to the situation in the historic centre of Antananarivo, giving an overview of the area’s historic and cultural significance and discussing the principal threats to the physical,visual and functional integrity of Antananarivo’s HUL. The second part will consider what can be done to preserve this heritage.
“The City of the Thousand” before the 19th century
The history of Tana begins around 1610 when a Merina[2] Prince made his residence at Analamanga (meaning “Blue Hill”), which was renamed Antananarivo (“City of the Thousand”) because, according to legend, 1000 soldiers were set to guard it. By the late 18th century the Merina would conqueror most of Madagascar and Antananarivo became their capital. The city, built on the highest of Antananarivo’s many hills (1483m), consisted of single storey wooden dwellings surrounded by a protective moat and was entered by gates of large rolling stones.
No wooden dwellings survive from this period but a few stone structures remain extant such as a rolling stone gate and a staircase believed to date from as early as the 15th century, which is unmarked and dilapidated.[3]
However the most important survival from this era are the tombs of the Merina rulers. Malagasy religious tradition is based on ancestor worship and the past lives strongly in ceremonies and ways of life. For centuries until today, Malagasy pilgrims have made their way to royal burial sites for ceremonies and prayers following ancient footpaths leading up to the sacred tombs on the highest hill in Antananarivo (which are today enclosed in the “Palais de la reine” or Queen’s “Rova” – “Rova” meaning ‘royal compound’ in Malagasy – located in the historic haute ville of the modern city). If these trails were maintained, signed and promoted they would not only help preserve cultural traditions and memories but could also prove a draw for cultural tourism. But, like much of Antananarivo’s heritage, these historic routes are in poor condition and are completely unmarked.[4]
The 19th-century: where Madagascar meets Europe
Things began to change in Antananarivo in the early 19th century with the arrival of European missionaries and adventurers. Several of these foreigners ended up working for the Merina kings and queens designing European style buildings for royal Malagasy use. Today the turrets of these 19th-century palaces still dominate the city’s skyline as part of the Queen’s Rova. The first European-style palace was built around 1820 for the King Radama I, just next to the King’s original residence, a single room wooden dwelling with a high pitched roof bearing the royal “V” symbol on its peak.[5]Called the Tranovola (silver house), it was the first wooden building of multiple stories on the island and was built by Louis Gros, a master carpenter from Mauritius. More buildings followed over the century and the Rova’s present eclectic architectural mix speaks of the jockeying for influence at the Malagasy court by French and English adventurers and later diplomats.
Under Queen Ranavalona I (1828-61) a shipwrecked French blacksmith named Jean Laborde was commissioned in the 1840s to build another palace in a European style with a central pillar measuring 39 metres high. Called Manjakamadiana (meaning ‘where tranquillity reigns’) the palace was built of local wood by local craftsmen and in accordance with Malagasy astrological beliefs and in direct proportion to the height of the Queen, 1.60 metres. This palace was then transformed by the next Queen, Ranavalona II, who converted to Protestantism and hired a Scotsman, John Cameron, to rebuild the palace in stone in a vague neo-Renaissance style in 1869. The resulting complex was a mix of contemporary French, Victorian, and Malagasy influences.
Today the Rova, which contains several palaces, a neo-gothic Protestant temple (designed by Englishman William Pool in the 1870s) and the most sacred royal tombs in Madagascar, remains the most scared sites in the city, despite a devastating fire in 1995 that destroyed all of its wooden structures, including an early 19th-century replica of the Merina kings traditional one room, wooden dwellings. It is now being rebuilt, thought very slowly with the date of completion continually postponed.[6]
The Rova’s architecture was hugely influential on the rest of the city, which employed a similar a Malagasy/European hybrid architectural style. For example, the 1872 Palace of the Prime Minister built by English missionary William Pool looks a bit like an exotic Victorian castle and its pink walls (the original colour) and turrets dominates the city skyline along with the Rova. Today it is a dilapidated, little visited museum holding the few royal items that survived the 1995 fire, including such curiosities as the Queen’s palanquin and a silver amphora given as a gift by Queen Victoria.
Private mansions of brick and stone were built for nobles and foreigners and many survive, some in fairly good shape but most are unmaintained, their significance all but forgotten. Recently, a 19th-century prince’s palace near the Queen’s Rova was torn down to make way for new construction; only a gate remains.[7] This despite the fact that the Rova and its environs has been a protected historic site since 1897.[8]
The city is dotted with numerous churches built by Protestant and Catholic missionaries almost all in some neo-gothic style that would not be out of place in Normandy or Nottingham and almost all of which are still in use today. But even more important to Malagasy culture, then and now, are various sacred tombs, which are found throughout the city. The Malagasy have a long history of tomb building dating back centuries; tombs were considered more important than dwellings and it was forbidden to build in stone for anything but tombs until the mid-19th century. Those in the Queen’s Rova are the most important but other tombs of various nobles dot the historic centre. Almost all are badly maintained, even the remarkable Tomb of Prime Mininster Rainiharo (1846-52) which was built in the 1840s by Jean Laborde mixing Malagasy traditions with the architecture of India (where Laborde had spent 3 years before being shipwrecked in Madagascar). Laborde added Hindu and Buddhist elements to the large Malagasy mausoleum, which is the earliest example of carved stone and fired brick used in Madagascar. Yet despite its importance it is unmaintained and its surrounding grounds are a popular place to dry laundry.
A French Colony
By late 19th-century, French influence was gaining ground and French architect Jully built the elaborate neo-Renaissance Palace of Ambohitsorohitra (1890/91) as the embassy of France, which in 1895 became the head of the French protectorate (today it is the palace of the President). The French ruled Madagascar from 1896 to 1960 and left behind in the city of Antananarivo a remarkably complete example of early 20th century French colonial urban design.
American architectural historian Gwendolyn Wright has studied Antananarivo as one of the one of the supreme examples of French colonial urban planning.[9] From 1896 into the 1920s, the French colonial government adopted what they believe to be Malagasy traditional styles (which were in fact the hybrid structures built in the 19th-century by Europeans for Malagasy patrons) and blended them with French colonial concepts of urbanity. Later, in the 1920s and 1930s, they imported modernist design, using Antananarivo almost as practice ground for French urban design theories. Much of this unique urban design remains extant, as since independence, Madagascar has become one of the poorest countries in the world. As little money was available to built new structures and infrastructure, much of this French urban design has never been replaced. So many of the roadways and buildings from the colonial period – including marketplaces, a medical school, private homes, various government buildings – are still in use today, albeit mostly in disrepair and unsuited for 21st century use.
None of the city’s colonial heritage is protected under any heritage law or policy. Colonial architecture in Africa is often controversial, seen as symbol of colonial domination and thus often ignored and unrestored,[10] and Antananarivo is no exception, despite its unique and complex architectural and urban design history.
The few examples of restoration work being carried out on a colonial building have been by individuals, often foreigners, who have turned colonial era mansions into hotels, shops or restaurants. Antananarivo’s long abandoned Beaux-Arts train station (built in 1908-10 by G. Fouchard based on the second train station of Lyon) was renovated as a restaurant/shopping/exhibit complex with railway offices by the rail company, Madarail, though the train station’s future remains uncertain since political unrest began in January 2009.[11] Many recent protests and riots have taken place near the train station in the historic basse ville along the Avenue de l’Indépendance, where in February 2009 several building dating to the 1920s were damaged by looting and fire.
All of these layers co-exist in Antananarivo today, creating a completely unique Historic Urban Landscape. But neglected and poorly maintained, threatened by a lack of management and effective heritage policies, insensitive development and civil unrest, Antananarivo’s HUL is in peril.
What must be done to revitalize and conserve the HUL of Antananarivo?
1. HERITAGE POLICIES, ENFORCEMENT AND MANAGEMENT
The first step must be the creation of firm and enforced government heritage legislation. Today, heritage legislation protects only a small part of the city’s historic centre (that is, the Queen’s Rova and its surroundings) and these rules are often unknown, ignored or circumvented. Local communes, without higher approval, have the right to allow construction or destruction in their districts and little concern is given to heritage issues. While little can be done to stop the random destruction of looting and riots during civil unrest, steps can be taken to better protect historic sites from the dangers of decay and uncontrolled urban development.
Since 2002, Madagascar has experienced modest economic growth, which has seen more and more dilapidated historic buildings destroyed in favour of new construction, which is often of low quality. Little value is given to heritage or urban context. But uncontrolled urbanization and insensitive development have contributed to urban sprawl and degradation of the built environment. The city (and indeed the whole country) desperately needs an effective and sufficiently funded organization to oversee the identification, protection and conservation of heritage buildings and areas, to help stop this alarming trend. The city is the result of cumulative layers of unique urban transformations and in that light, conservation and development cannot be seen separately. The city must of course develop but in a way that preserves the city’s collective memory while constructing a better future.
2. LOCAL TRADITION AND EDUCATION
However, essential to creating effective and enforceable policies is an understanding of the place of the built environment in Malagasy culture, which has traditionally placed greater emphasis on its ancestors and the past, than on the future. For many Malagasy, culture is more to be found in beliefs, a way of life, and in honouring the ancestors, than in any building. For example, when the Queen’s Rova burnt in 1995, the first thing the populace demanded rebuilt were the sacred tombs, so they could be visited once more, and the roof of the palace, whose form dominating the city skyline is considered a symbol of stability and tradition.
How can these traditional beliefs be integrated with contemporary notions of preservation and conservation of heritage buildings and a Historic Urban Landscape? For any program or policy to work, it will need to take into account these mores and to find ways of integrating local tradition and contemporary use, engaging local people in the conservation and management of their own heritage.
This is of course easier said than done. A recent study carried out from 2006 to 2008 on heritage preservation in Madagascar has repeatedly found a “general attitude of indifference and ignorance not only of the population but also of the local authorities” in regard to heritage.[12] Of course, extreme poverty, whose many faceted results include a general lack of knowledge, education and concern regarding even one’s own heritage, is at the heart of this problem. While I can offer no solutions for the larger issues, improved education regarding the city’s heritage – for everyone from school children to government officials – would be a beginning and central to any successful attempts to save Antananarivo’s HUL. Strengthening the city’s residents’ sense of civic pride and building an understanding of the city’s history and of the benefits of conservation, of both tangible and intangible heritage, would be at the heart of any successful attempts to conserve.
3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CUTURAL TOURISM
Given Antananarivo’s poverty, conservation efforts and policies must be linked to sustainable economic development. One possible source of local income and funding for future conservation is cultural tourism, which to date has rarely been promoted in Antananarivo, but which has enormous potential. Rich in pre-colonial and colonial architecture enlivened with a tropical setting and a fascinating multi-cultural history, Antananarivo could easily promote itself as a unique cultural destination. A well-aimed international cultural tourism campaign could help promote the city as a cultural destination and attract tourists, who up until now have usually focused their visits to Madagascar on the natural wonders and nature preserves outside of the capital. Few stay more that a day in Antananarivo.
Despite the blow the country’s tourism industry by it ongoing political unrest,[13] tourism remains a major potential source of future development. If approach sensitively, sustainable cultural tourism could contribute to reducing poverty by creating jobs and income for both individuals and government, in improving conditions of buildings and neighbourhoods, which could in turn revitalize the urban environment.
Conclusion
Action must be swiftly taken to save the HUL of Antananarivo. However given the ongoing political situation in the country, this seems unlikely to happen immediately. But if the historic monuments and districts of Antananarivo could be preserved, taking into account both present and future use, they could then be used to improve the daily lives and future of the population of the city. Historic preservation and sustainable development must be combined with the goal of transforming the HUL of Antananarivo into a place of history, beauty, civic life and business, improving the physical environment of its citizens as well as saving the built memory of a culture.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andrianaivoarivony, R. et al. Madagascar: Antananarivo: un patrimoine méconnu. Antananarivo, 2007
Brown, Mervin. A History of Madagascar. Princeton, N.J.: Markus Weiner Publishers, 2006
Institute National du Patrimoine. Architecture coloniale et patrimoine, expériences européenes. Paris: Editions Somogy, 2006
Lynch, Kevin, “The Presence of the Past” in Urban Design Reader. M. Cremoa and S. Tiesdell, eds. Oxford: Architectural Press, 2007
Rakotoarisoa, Jean-Aimé, et al. Madagascar: Society and History. Carolina Academic Press, 1986
Rakotoarisoa, Jean-Aimé. “Fire of the Rova, the Queen’s Palace, in Antananarivo” in Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness and Response. ICOM, International Symposium Proceedings,
Salar Jung Museum
Hyderabad, India,
23-27 November 2003: 193-196.
Robinson, Mike and David Picard. Tourism, Culture and Sustainable Development. Programme “Culture, tourism, development”, Division of cultural policies and intercultural dialogue, Culture Sector, UNESCO, 2006
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development. Innovation for sustainable development: local case studies from Africa. 2008
UNESCO Cultural Division, Moscow Office. Innovative Policies for Heritage Safeguarding and Cultural Tourism Development. 2006. Proceedings of the International Conference.
Université d’Antananarivo, Institute de Civilisations et Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie. Programme UNESCO – Madagascar. Project Sauvegarde et gestion du Patrimoine en Danger de Madagascar en collaboration avec les communautes locales. 2006-2008, Rapports de Progress (Not yet published)
Wright, Gwendolyn. The Politics of French Colonial Urbanism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991
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[1] According to World Bank statistics, nearly 70% of Madagascar’s population lives below the poverty line on less than$1US a day.
[3] Université d’Antananarivo, Institute de Civilisations et Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie. Programme UNESCO – Madagascar. Project Sauvegarde et gestion du Patrimoine en Danger de Madagascar en collaboration avec les communautes locales. Rapport de Progress, Mai 2008 : 12.
[4] The significance of these footpaths as well as their potential as a cultural tourist attraction was pointed out to me by Professor Jean-Aimé Rakotoarisoa.
[5] This early Merina royal residence, rebuilt several times, remained part of the Rova complex until it was destroyed in the 1995 fire. It should eventually be reconstruction.
[6] On the fire and the rebuilding see Jean-Aimé Rakotoarisoa “Fire of the Rova, the Queen’s Palace, in Antananarivo,” 2003.
[8] After exiling the last Merina Queen, the French Governor declared all royal sites in the haute ville as historic monuments in 1897, which they remain today. Wright, 1991 : 251.
[9] Wright, 1991: 235-300.
[10] Colonial sites in Africa are rarely nominated for inclusion in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List and colonial heritage in Africa remains underrepresented on the list. See Lazare Eloundou Assomo, “Le concept de patrimoine mondial et son application dans le cadre de la protection du patrimoine colonial African,” in Architecture Colonial et patrimoine. 2006 : 205.
[11] Madarail is rebuilding the train station as a commercial centre with shops and offices, which will include the National Tourist Office, the National Parks Office, local artisans and artists, as well as a cultural centre. According the company’s director, Patrick Claes, no government or heritage official has ever expressed interest in the project or concern over any heritage issue. Madarail has however undertaken to conserve as much of the buildings original design as possible, restoring the original woodwork in Madagascar rosewood, the beaux-arts metalwork including the original gutter system, the original decorative tiles on the façade and floors, the facade clock, and the original colouring (pale yellow and deep green). All cost are being covered by Madarail. Work began in September 2008 and was due to finish in May 2009, until recent civil unrest slowed work. Madarail is also restoring other historic train stations in Madagascar as well as some historic train carriages, including one of 3 Michelin trains on tires in existence, which are already in use from the Antananarivo station.
[13] Madagascar received around 344,000 tourists in 2007 and 380,000 in 2008. Since the beginnings of political unrest in January 2009, tourist numbers have fallen to next to nothing, with most hotels reporting 90-100% vacancy rates. The tourism industry in Madagascar is thought to have been worth around US$390 million in 2008.
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