Madagascar

Ambohimanga, meaning Blue Hill or Sacred Hill, is the highest and most revered of the twelve sacred hills of Imerina in the central highlands of Madagascar, where the Merina royal line rose and was laid to rest. Crowned by the walled Rova complex with King Andrianampoinimerina's rosewood palace, two 19th-century royal pavilions, royal tombs, sacred fig trees, ceremonial pools, and a primary forest fragment preserved by ancestral taboo, the hill has remained a living center of Malagasy ancestor veneration for five centuries and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (2001)Ambohimanga Rova, xã Ambohimanga, khoảng 24 km về phía đông bắc Antananarivo, vùng Analamanga

Photo: Hiroki Ogawa, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

The metropolitan cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Antananarivo crowning the historic Andohalo square in the Upper Town of Madagascar's capital, constructed in dressed granite between 1873 and 1890 in Neo-Gothic style after designs by Jesuit Father Alphonse Taix directly above the cliff where early Malagasy Christians suffered martyrdom under Queen Ranavalona I, and enshrining the tomb of Blessed Victoria Rasoamanarivo.

Metropolitan Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Antananarivo, National Historic Monument of the Republic of Madagascar, and core monument of the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List site The Upper Town of Antananarivo (submitted in 2016, Ref. 6078)Place d'Andohalo, Upper Town (Haute-Ville), 2nd Arrondissement, 101 Antananarivo, Analamanga Region, Republic of Madagascar

Photo: HoneyGaLe, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

One of the four historic Protestant stone memorial churches (Tranovato) of Antananarivo, perched directly on the edge of the sheer granite precipice of Ampamarinana near the royal Rova palace, designed by London Missionary Society architects James Sibree and William Pool and inaugurated on March 28, 1874 on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the execution of fourteen Malagasy Christian martyrs who were hurled from the cliff on March 28, 1849.

One of the Four Historic Protestant Martyr Memorial Stone Churches (Tranovato Efatra) of the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM) and core monument of the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List site The Upper Town of Antananarivo (submitted in 2016, Ref. 6078)Ampamarinana Cliff, near the Rova of Antananarivo, Upper Town (Haute-Ville), 101 Antananarivo, Analamanga Region, Republic of Madagascar

Photo: Anai171, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The mother cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Antananarivo (Eklesia Episkopaly Malagasy) crowning Ambohimanoro Hill in the Upper Town of Madagascar's capital, begun on September 13, 1883 and consecrated on August 17, 1889 under Bishop Robert Kestell-Cornish in the presence of Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony, renowned for its dressed-granite Gothic Revival architecture and octagonal crossing tower designed by English architect William White.

Cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Antananarivo (Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean, Eklesia Episkopaly Malagasy), National Historic Monument of the Republic of Madagascar, and core monument of the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List site The Upper Town of Antananarivo (submitted in 2016, Ref. 6078)Ambohimanoro Hill, north of Place d'Andohalo, Upper Town (Haute-Ville), 101 Antananarivo, Analamanga Region, Republic of Madagascar

Photo: M.ranarivelo, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The historic central congregational mosque of the highland spa city of Antsirabe, originally built in 1930 by the local Muslim merchant community, celebrated across the Islamic world as the sanctuary where Sultan and King Mohammed V of Morocco and Crown Prince Hassan attended Friday prayers during their forced exile in Madagascar from January 1954 to October 1955, and comprehensively restored under the patronage of King Mohammed VI in November 2016.

Principal Historic Congregational Mosque of the Vakinankaratra Highlands and Monument of Moroccan-Malagasy Islamic Diplomatic HeritageAsabotsy Central District, near Avenue de l'Independance, Antsirabe 110, Vakinankaratra Region, Republic of Madagascar

Photo: Artvill, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons