View of the Old City

Fianarantsoa’s Old City is a unique heritage site in Madagascar and the world. Its century old tile roofed houses colored in the natural clay tones of the region nestle into the granite hillside. The steep access pathways bar vehicular traffic, inviting exploration on foot via paths and stairways that meander between the densely packed houses. The pride of the inhabitants is evident in the pocket gardens, flower bedecked balconies.

The aging charm of the site belies the significant threats to its future. Victim of age and neglect, many of roofs no longer protect the vulnerable adobe walled houses. Each year several houses simply “melt” during the heavy rains as a pillar collapses, the roof caves in, and the structure crumbles…leaving a hole in the landscape and usually several families homeless.

It is still possible to save the site as most of the 100 or so most historic and vulnerable houses need less than €400 worth of repairs. But for people living on less than €1 per day, this is an insurmountable challenge. The Program to Save the Old City is a community based program that works with the inhabitants to rebuild pride in the site, to restore threatened buildings, and to promote economic and community development that will have a lasting impact on the site and its inhabitants. The idea is to turn around the fortunes of the Old City so that age is no longer a debilitating handicap, but rather a community resource. Soon it will be too late : once the buildings reach a certain level of disrepair (or fall down) it becomes prohibitively expensive to restore them and the site will lose the coherence that represents its special cultural and architectural value.

The World Monument Watch listed Fianarantsoa’s Old City (Tanàna Ambony) as One of the 100 Most Threatened Historic Sites in the World on its list for 2008-9, asking us all to lend a hand to saving the site before it is too late.

Fianarantsoa’s Old City from the air