Carved balconies
Carved balconies
3.5
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
3.5
7 reviews
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lonewolf44
Kingston upon Thames, UK1,303 contributions
Jul 2019 • Friends
Ambositra is renowned for its wood carving - there are a fair few shops, where they may let you watch the carver at work out back. Many of the often brightly painted houses have elaborately carved wooden balconies - a stroll through the town will reveal this. I had to smile when I saw this was the number one rated thing to do in Ambositra, but it really does define the town and there isn't much else here specifically for tourists as it's a place people pass through on their way to and from Tano.
Written 27 July 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Inspector_More
Greater Manchester, UK179 contributions
Apr 2017 • Couples
Ambositra is known for its carving and inlay industry - perhaps more so in furniture than balcony decoration. It's worth visiting a carving workshop to witness the skills of the master craftsmen.
Written 26 April 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
DanyEarth
Paris, France32,758 contributions
Oct 2023 • Friends
Originally, the architecture of the houses of the highlands of Madagascar was unique in Africa because they had characteristics similar to the standards and construction methods of southern Borneo, where it is believed that the first inhabitants of Madagascar have immigrated.
Throughout Madagascar, as in the Kalimantan region of Borneo, most traditional houses, which are quite rare today, are entirely made of wood. They follow a rectangular rather than round shape and feature a steeply pitched pointed roof, supported by a central pillar. Today, in the countryside, we find very few traditional wooden houses, except in the landlocked region of the Zafimaniry Country, to the South East of Ambositra. There are around twenty villages, difficult to access, which, by tradition, continue to build wooden houses of traditional shape. The layout of the interior space responds to precise rules linked to the four cardinal points.
The North is the honorary direction where the head of the family is placed, the West is the direction of daily life, the East is the "sacred" direction where ancestors are honored, and the South is the evil direction !
For the doors or “varavaram-be”, they always face the West, because that is where the sun sets. For the windows or “varavaran-kely”, they are located towards the West. The kitchen or "Lakozia", is located in the southern part of the house.
In fact, it was the scarcity of wood and the lifting in 1869 of the ban on using stone or brick, by Ranavalona II (1868-1883), which led to changes in construction methods. Because, previously, stone or brick were reserved for tombs!! It is in fact, under the influence of European architects like Jean Laborde or James Cameron, who created the royal palaces of Antananarivo, who gave an impetus to be able to use hard materials.
The houses of the highlands, of Imerina and Betsileo, present themselves today in two forms. In the countryside, the house is a building with 1 or 2 floors, rectangular in shape, with an overhanging roof, with a steep slope covered with sheet metal or mechanical tiles (form introduced by Jean Laborde in 1831), more rarely in a woven plant structure . The house is built of clay brick, produced locally, or adobe. On the main facade, there are small windows open on a smooth facade without decoration, especially in poor villages. There is no fireplace.
In Betsiléo country, in urban and suburban areas, the facade, especially on the west side, can be decorated with vertical pillars, between which there are open verandas or verandas (Creole form), but covered by the projection of the roof. Rarely do the floors go around the house. Sometimes, overflowing balconies, but always covered, replace the veranda.
In town, where the style is freer, the balustrades, and even the roof, can then have several styles of decoration, with friezes, decorative metal elements and even “Sitting Dogs” roof windows. These houses are visible in towns like Fianarantsoa, Ambositra or Antsirabé and even in Tana. Likewise, the villages along the RN7, particularly around Ambositra, where there are rice terraces, have houses built according to the same principle because the population has the means to make them. On the Ambositra site and if we travel along the RN7, which crosses the city or if we go up to the square in front of the Cathedral, to dominate the city, we observe these houses built in the same style, with variations , facade decorations. In town, the ground floor is often a premises or store. In the countryside, this is the place where we store livestock or even in remote villages, where we shelter livestock for the night.
I am writing this review, under a section with a reductive title, which is called "Carved Balconies" which I translate as "Carved Balcony", which does not quite correspond to the floors and verandas of the majority of Betsileo houses.
Throughout Madagascar, as in the Kalimantan region of Borneo, most traditional houses, which are quite rare today, are entirely made of wood. They follow a rectangular rather than round shape and feature a steeply pitched pointed roof, supported by a central pillar. Today, in the countryside, we find very few traditional wooden houses, except in the landlocked region of the Zafimaniry Country, to the South East of Ambositra. There are around twenty villages, difficult to access, which, by tradition, continue to build wooden houses of traditional shape. The layout of the interior space responds to precise rules linked to the four cardinal points.
The North is the honorary direction where the head of the family is placed, the West is the direction of daily life, the East is the "sacred" direction where ancestors are honored, and the South is the evil direction !
For the doors or “varavaram-be”, they always face the West, because that is where the sun sets. For the windows or “varavaran-kely”, they are located towards the West. The kitchen or "Lakozia", is located in the southern part of the house.
In fact, it was the scarcity of wood and the lifting in 1869 of the ban on using stone or brick, by Ranavalona II (1868-1883), which led to changes in construction methods. Because, previously, stone or brick were reserved for tombs!! It is in fact, under the influence of European architects like Jean Laborde or James Cameron, who created the royal palaces of Antananarivo, who gave an impetus to be able to use hard materials.
The houses of the highlands, of Imerina and Betsileo, present themselves today in two forms. In the countryside, the house is a building with 1 or 2 floors, rectangular in shape, with an overhanging roof, with a steep slope covered with sheet metal or mechanical tiles (form introduced by Jean Laborde in 1831), more rarely in a woven plant structure . The house is built of clay brick, produced locally, or adobe. On the main facade, there are small windows open on a smooth facade without decoration, especially in poor villages. There is no fireplace.
In Betsiléo country, in urban and suburban areas, the facade, especially on the west side, can be decorated with vertical pillars, between which there are open verandas or verandas (Creole form), but covered by the projection of the roof. Rarely do the floors go around the house. Sometimes, overflowing balconies, but always covered, replace the veranda.
In town, where the style is freer, the balustrades, and even the roof, can then have several styles of decoration, with friezes, decorative metal elements and even “Sitting Dogs” roof windows. These houses are visible in towns like Fianarantsoa, Ambositra or Antsirabé and even in Tana. Likewise, the villages along the RN7, particularly around Ambositra, where there are rice terraces, have houses built according to the same principle because the population has the means to make them. On the Ambositra site and if we travel along the RN7, which crosses the city or if we go up to the square in front of the Cathedral, to dominate the city, we observe these houses built in the same style, with variations , facade decorations. In town, the ground floor is often a premises or store. In the countryside, this is the place where we store livestock or even in remote villages, where we shelter livestock for the night.
I am writing this review, under a section with a reductive title, which is called "Carved Balconies" which I translate as "Carved Balcony", which does not quite correspond to the floors and verandas of the majority of Betsileo houses.
Written 28 December 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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