The compound originally housed twelve royal tombs constructed in the style of Merina nobles, with a stone crypt topped by a small, windowless wooden house (tranomasina) indicative of aristocratic rank.
The peaks of these tombs were aligned from north to south.
Sovereigns originally buried in the four largest tombs, situated to the north of the others, included Andriantsimitoviaminiandriana, Andriambelomasina, Andriampoinimerina, Ranavalona I and Ranavalona II, while the wives and relatives of sovereigns were buried in the smaller tombs.
 According to oral histories, at its 19th-century peak the Ambohimanga compound contained 12 tombs.

The tranomasina were destroyed in March 1897 by French authorities who removed the bodies of the sovereigns interred here and relocated them to the royal tombs at the Rova of Antananarivo.
The rich collection of funerary objects enclosed within the tombs was also removed for display in the Manjakamiadana palace on the Antananarivo rova grounds, which the Colonial Authority transformed into an ethnological museum.
This was done in an effort to desanctify the city of Ambohimanga and break the spirit of the Menalamba resistance fighters who had been rebelling against French colonization for the past year, break popular belief in the power of the royal ancestors, and relegate Malagasy sovereignty under the Merina rulers to a relic of an unenlightened past.
A French garrison was housed within the royal city and military buildings were erected on top of the stone tomb foundations.
A kitchen and military canteen were built on top of the tombs of Andrianampoinimerina and Andriamasinavalona.
By 1904, the military buildings were likewise demolished, leaving the stone tomb foundations intact.

The desecration of the two most sacred sites of Merina royalty represented a calculated political move intended to establish the political and cultural superiority of the French colonial power.
In the popular view, the link between Ambohimanga and the ancestors (Andrianampoinimerina in particular) rendered the royal city an even more potent symbol and source of legitimate power than the capital of Antananarivo, which was seen as having become a locus of corrupt politics and deviance from ancestral tradition.
Believing that the presence of the ancestors within the tombs sanctified the earth upon which the rova was built, Menalamba resistance fighters would come to Ambohimanga to collect handfuls of dirt from the base of the tombs to carry with them in their offensives against the French; the French authority intended by the removal of the sovereigns' bodies from the tombs to undermine the fighters' confidence and solidarity.
Although the tombs were desecrated and the Menalamba fighters were ultimately defeated, Ambohimanga has retained its sacred character.
The royal tombs were reconstructed in 2008 by the government of Madagascar under the Ravalomanana administration.
During the 1995 fire that destroyed the tombs and other structures at the Rova of Antananarivo, the lamba-wrapped remains of only one sovereign—Ranavalona III—could be saved from the flames.
The queen has since been re-interred in the royal tombs at Ambohimanga.
The compound originally housed twelve royal tombs constructed in the style of Merina nobles, with a stone crypt topped by a small, windowless wooden house (tranomasina) indicative of aristocratic rank. The peaks of these tombs were aligned from north to south. Sovereigns originally buried in the four largest tombs, situated to the north of the others, included Andriantsimitoviaminiandriana, Andriambelomasina, Andriampoinimerina, Ranavalona I and Ranavalona II, while the wives and relatives of sovereigns were buried in the smaller tombs.  According to oral histories, at its 19th-century peak the Ambohimanga compound contained 12 tombs.
The tranomasina were destroyed in March 1897 by French authorities who removed the bodies of the sovereigns interred here and relocated them to the royal tombs at the Rova of Antananarivo. The rich collection of funerary objects enclosed within the tombs was also removed for display in the Manjakamiadana palace on the Antananarivo rova grounds, which the Colonial Authority transformed into an ethnological museum. This was done in an effort to desanctify the city of Ambohimanga and break the spirit of the Menalamba resistance fighters who had been rebelling against French colonization for the past year, break popular belief in the power of the royal ancestors, and relegate Malagasy sovereignty under the Merina rulers to a relic of an unenlightened past. A French garrison was housed within the royal city and military buildings were erected on top of the stone tomb foundations. A kitchen and military canteen were built on top of the tombs of Andrianampoinimerina and Andriamasinavalona. By 1904, the military buildings were likewise demolished, leaving the stone tomb foundations intact.
The desecration of the two most sacred sites of Merina royalty represented a calculated political move intended to establish the political and cultural superiority of the French colonial power. In the popular view, the link between Ambohimanga and the ancestors (Andrianampoinimerina in particular) rendered the royal city an even more potent symbol and source of legitimate power than the capital of Antananarivo, which was seen as having become a locus of corrupt politics and deviance from ancestral tradition. Believing that the presence of the ancestors within the tombs sanctified the earth upon which the rova was built, Menalamba resistance fighters would come to Ambohimanga to collect handfuls of dirt from the base of the tombs to carry with them in their offensives against the French; the French authority intended by the removal of the sovereigns' bodies from the tombs to undermine the fighters' confidence and solidarity. Although the tombs were desecrated and the Menalamba fighters were ultimately defeated, Ambohimanga has retained its sacred character. The royal tombs were reconstructed in 2008 by the government of Madagascar under the Ravalomanana administration. During the 1995 fire that destroyed the tombs and other structures at the Rova of Antananarivo, the lamba-wrapped remains of only one sovereign—Ranavalona III—could be saved from the flames. The queen has since been re-interred in the royal tombs at Ambohimanga.
Ambohimanga