Hiva Oa

Hiva Oa is the main island of the southern Marquesas and the administrative capital of the Marquesan archipelago. With its 315 km² and 2,200 inhabitants, it is the second-largest island in the Marquesas (after Nuku Hiva) and probably the most culturally storied. Located 1,400 km north-east of Tahiti and 1,200 km south of the equator, it is dominated by Mont Temetiu (1,276 m), a volcanic summit often cloud-covered.

The village of Atuona (1,250 inhabitants) is the cultural and administrative centre of the island. Here is concentrated everything that makes Hiva Oa unique for travellers: the graves of Paul Gauguin and Jacques Brel at the Calvaire seaside cemetery, the Paul Gauguin Museum, the Jacques Brel Space (with his restored Jojo plane), the Notre-Dame des Îles Marquises Cathedral.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), French post-impressionist painter, arrived at Hiva Oa in September 1901 after several years in Tahiti. He settled at Atuona in a house he baptised 'Maison du Jouir' (House of Pleasure), where he lived his last 18 months. He painted some of his last canvases there. He died at Atuona on 8 May 1903 at age 54, from advanced syphilis and morphine dependency. He is buried at the Calvaire seaside cemetery.

Jacques Brel (1929-1978), Belgian singer, settled at Atuona in November 1975 after ending his singing career in 1967. He bought land at Atuona, built a house facing Tahauku Bay, and bought a Beechcraft Twin Bonanza plane (the famous 'Jojo') with which he flew supply runs between the Marquesan islands. Suffering from lung cancer, he left Hiva Oa in July 1978 for Brussels where he died on 9 October 1978. According to his testamentary wish, he is buried at the Calvaire cemetery, a few metres from Paul Gauguin.

Beyond Atuona, the Puamau valley (1 h 30 by 4x4 east, paved road) shelters the most impressive pre-colonial vestiges of French Polynesia: the me'ae Iipona (open-air temple) with its ceremonial platform adorned with monumental stone tikis. The Takaii tiki (2.67 m tall) is the largest tiki in the Marquesas. The Maki Taua Pepe tiki represents a female figure giving birth. The site is classified as a historic monument.