The palace at Sans Souci was built to rival the Palace of Versailles in Paris. It sits at the foot of the Citadelle high enough to see Cap Haitien and the sea. The complex includes two palaces, for the king and the queen, a hospital, a school, a cathedral and extensive stables and outhouses. It is here that King Henri Christophe is said to have committed suicide. Roi Christophe foresaw the fall of the North and before his death witnessed the desertion of his troops who returned to Port au Prince. Shortly after his death the Kingdom of the north fell, his wife returned to her native Genoa, and the palace was ransacked. The palace was destroyed by the earthquake in 1842 and has lain empty since.

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The Citadelle

February 4, 2012

Haiti, Travel

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The Citadelle is without a doubt one the most impressive sights on the island, so much so that it’s included as a site to visit in the Dominican Republic where sometimes people forget to mention it’s actually across the border in Haiti. The fortress is built 900m above the sea on top of a small mountain near the town of Milot. There are plenty of little horses and nags offering to carry you to the top but I went up on foot with Keri Antonio a genuinely official and well-recommended guide. The fort and the palace of Sans Souci were finished in 1820 after 14 years and the death of thousands of workers. Henri Christophe built the fort after the declaration of Independence to protect the country in case the French decided to retake their most profitable colony.
The Citadelle was never attacked, no great surprise when you look at its commanding view for tens of miles in every direction, but I couldn’t help wondering if it was just an enormous folly. What was it going to protect? Despite very impressive water collection and storage, and a supply of food for 5000 people for a year, the best cannons captured French and British ships only had a range of three miles and outside of that the entire country was vulnerable.
In the end it seems Roi Christophe saw the end of the Kingdom of the North approaching and, after being left crippled (from either yellow fever or battle wounds depending on the story), committed suicide in 1820 with, according to Antonio, a silver bullet.
The Citadelle itself is an incredible site. It is almost completely untouched by the scourge of tourism and on any given day there’s a good chance you’ll be only visitor. The views are spectacular and the attention to detail in the construction was good enough that the three engineers earned an execution in case they should repeat their accomplishment elsewhere.