City Tour of the Old town of Fianarantsoa: Visit Fianarantsoa wich means « Good education » in Malagasy. It is a cultural and intellectual center for the whole island. It is home to some of the oldest Protestant and Lutheran cathedrals on the island, the oldest theological seminary (also Lutheran). Fianarantsoa is considered to be the capital of wine in Madagascar, because of the presence of many wine industries in the city. Fianarantsoa has been known for its political activism and students of the University of Fianarantsoa have a reputation for sympathizing with radical leftist groups. Fianarantsoa was placed by the World Monuments Fund on its 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites. The Fianarantsoa Old City occupies a dramatic hilltop setting once topped with a palace used by the Merina royal family during state visits. While the palace is no longer there, some 500 homes built between 1870 and 1900 by those affiliated with the royal retinue still line the city’s picturesque cobblestone streets. Buildings dating from this period survived because a royal edict forbidding commoners from using durable building materials was lifted in 1868. Moreover, the Old City is the only place in Madagascar where nineteenth-century buildings form a coherent architectural ensemble. Some of the buildings included in this listing are still occupied by descendants of their original builders.