Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Architecture
Each region of Madagascar has its own architectural style and building materials. The Mer-
ina and Betsileo of the hauts plateaux (highlands) live in distinctive red-brick houses that
are warm on cold nights. The typical Merina home is a tall, narrow affair with small win-
dows and brick pillars in the front that support open verandahs. The Betsileo areas dispense
with the pillars and trim their houses with elaborately carved wood. Coastal homes are gen-
erally constructed of lighter local materials, including ravinala (literally, 'forest leaves';
also known as travellers' palm) and raffia palm.
MADAGASCAR'S GOSSAMER
In 1710, Frenchman François Xavier Bon de Saint Hilaire published a paper
considering the use of gossamer (spider silk) instead of that of the silkworm.
Silk was - and still is - a hugely valuable material, and finding an alternative
source of production was the holy grail of the weaving industry. Bon's experi-
ments were promising - he made gloves and stockings for King Louis XIV -
but he struggled to unravel the spider's cocoon into a single continuous strand
because of a binding glue.
It wasn't until 1761 that Spanish Jesuit Raimondo de Termeyer worked out a
way of extracting the thread directly from the spider's spinnerets. A number of
experiments continued until the early 20th century, but spider silk never really
took off on a large scale.
Madagascar's golden orb spider - which you'll see everywhere in the high-
lands if you look up at branches and cables - has long been known for the qual-
ity of its silk: as well as being a divine saffron colour, it is about five times
stronger than steel by weight.
In 2004, British textile expert Simon Peers and US entrepreneur Nicholas
Godley decided to give gossamer another go. A million golden orb spiders, a
few bites, and miles of gossamer later, Peers and Godley were able to display an
11ft-long, hand-woven golden-hued shawl at the American Museum of Natural
History in New York in 2009. The design of the brocaded shawl was inspired by
19th-century Merina weaving traditions.
The shawl captivated the public's imagination with its ethereal beauty, and it
was displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago the following year. In 2012 it was
exhibited at London's Victoria & Albert Museum, along with another cape spe-
cially made for the exhibition.
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