Nan Madol
Madolenihmw, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia
An ancient city of over ninety artificial basalt and coral islets in a Pohnpeian lagoon, capital of the Saudeleur dynasty, a UNESCO World Heritage site on the List in Danger and still part of living chiefly tradition.
Off Temwen Island on Pohnpei, a city was built on the water: more than ninety artificial islets separated by tidal canals, walled in columns of basalt, enclosing roughly 1.5 by 0.5 kilometers of lagoon. Nan Madol was the seat of the Saudeleur dynasty until about 1628, when Isokelekel overthrew them; his descendants became the nahnmwarki, the high chiefs of Madolenihmw, whose lineage continues today. Pohnpeian tradition attributes the walls to twin sorcerers who raised them from the sea, and the site remains embedded in chiefly custom.
UNESCO inscribed Nan Madol in 2016 and placed it on the List of World Heritage in Danger the same year, citing siltation and mangrove encroachment; restoration work followed. Visiting runs through local arrangement: boats from Kolonia or Temwen, guides from the Madolenihmw municipality, and some sections by permission.
Visiting
Arranged locally: boat access from Kolonia or Temwen Island, guides through Madolenihmw municipality arrangements and FSM historic preservation rules; some sections require permission; wear reef shoes for the tidal channels.
Photo: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nan_Madol_ruins_6.jpg), CC BY-SA 4.0, Uhooep.
Associated traditions & practices
Visitor stories