The Rova of Antananarivo is the royal compound of the Merina sovereigns on a hilltop in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Andrianjaka founded the first fortified royal structure there between about 1610 and 1625. The compound is about 380 feet (116 m) north to south and covers just under 2.5 acres (1 ha) at an elevation of 1,480 meters.
Jean Laborde was the principal architect of the wooden Manjakamiadana palace, built in 1839–1840. James Cameron encased it in stone in 1867, giving it three stories, corner towers and a granite exterior. The style is traditional Merina highland architecture with Creole and European influence, notably verandas.
A stone chapel was inaugurated on April 8, 1880, and the compound became a museum in 1897. A fire on November 6, 1995, destroyed nearly all of the wooden structures, though the chapel and the shells of the Manjakamiadana survived. The chapel and tombs are open to visitors.
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