History & Heritage

The Museum of the Haitian National Pantheon

July 21, 2019 by Editor

interior of haitian MUPANAH museum with golden sculptures — MUPANAH – Museum of The Haitian National Pantheon
Photo: Anton Lau

The Museum of the Haitian National Pantheon

Built partially underground, this museum displays artefacts illustrating Haiti’s history with an emphasis on its revolutionary years and its political and cultural forefathers. Get up close to artefacts from a Colombus ship, slave shackles, murder weapons and the bell that rang in independence.

About the museum

Much of Haitian heritage is preserved orally. Songs, stories and structured debates rehearse and refine the histories and experiences down the centuries. As a visitor, you can only scratch the surface of this unseen medium of memory. If you’re in Champ-de-Mars, and you’re lucky, you might witness the debate circles that are part of the island nation’s oral tradition.

Material cultural memories, however, are a little easier for the curious traveller to find. If you’re in downtown Champ-de-Mars, you can find it in the Museum of the Haitian National Pantheon, or MUPANAH. Built partially underground, this museum displays artefacts illustrating Haiti’s history with an emphasis on its revolutionary years and its political and cultural forefathers.

Thanks to being partly underground, the museum survived the massive earthquake of 2010 almost unscathed. First opened in 1983, MUPANAH was designed to safeguard and display the lives and accomplishments of the country’s important forefathers: Alexandre Pétion, Henry Christophe, Toussaint Louverture, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines. This is where a lot of Haiti’s physical colonial history is kept intact.

What you’ll see

For a small fee, visitors get access to a wealth of history on Haiti and its past. Self-designated as the guardian of Haitian history, the museum is split into two show rooms: a permanent exhibit, and a temporary exhibit.

The permanent exhibit showcases artefacts from the pre-Columbian period to the contemporary period. It emphasizes the revolutionary period, during which an army of self-freed slaves and free people of color fought off the colonial system to abolish slavery.

A tour guide take visitors through Haitian history, starting off with the Taíno people who first inhabited the island. Visitors are walked through the voyages of the first colonizers to set foot on the island: the Spaniards.

Learn how Spanish colonizers used the Taíno people of the island as a resource, and how it came about that they began to traffic African slaves to Hispaniola as well.

See real examples of the actual shackles that were used to keep slaves under control, alongside gruesome instruments of torture used the slave masters. While this may be shocking for some visitors, the museum and its advisory board believe this is an important part of Haitian history that should be kept alive for the sake of our collective memory.

See the anchor of the Santa Maria ship – on which Christopher Colombus arrived in Haiti – standing at a daunting thirteen feet tall. This cold hunk of metal is a chilling reminder of the trigger that began the centuries of upheaval now embedded in the Haiti’s history and national identity.

Read documents signed by, and belonging to, prominent presidents – such as noted dictator François Duvalier – the museum also features the silver handgun which Henri Christophe used to commit suicide. On a more uplifting note, you’ll get to see the bell that was rung to announce that the country’s population were claiming their independence.

Temporary exhibits

The temporary exhibit displays artworks from various Haitian artists, and rotates on a regular basis. The art is often chosen based on a particular theme, including current events, music, social and economic issues, or historical events such as French colonisation.

Relax in gorgeous gardens

Outside of the museum are the MUPANAH Gardens. Open from Monday to Saturday, the Gardens are set in a lovely white greenhouse-like space with large open windows throughout. Light, airy, and expansive, the Gardens are a much needed antidote to Haiti’s often heavy history, and are a worthy destination in their own right for anyone looking for fresh air and tranquility in Port-au-Prince.

The Gardens feature a sculpture garden and sitting area set in the middle of typical Haitian greenery, and house the museum’s restaurant and gift shop. Overlooking the lush green spaces surrounding the museum, you can dig into some of the city’s best French cuisine. Sitting at a table in the Gardens for lunch is an upscale outdoor dining experience – a vivid contrast to the sizzling street food scene of downtown Port-au-Prince.

The Gardens also serve as a popular location for cultural events all year round, including the International Jazz Festival of Port-au-Prince. Special events, meals, or cocktails are announced at the venue itself, but also via social media.

Getting there

The museum is open seven days a week, including holidays. Tours are offered in French, Creole, and in English.

The Museum of the Haitian National Pantheon is located in Champs de Mars, downtown Port-au-Prince.

Written by Kelly Paulemon.

Published July 2019

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Experience Rara Easter

July 1, 2019 by admin

group of haitian walking while playing on trumpets during rara festivities — Rara band in Bois Moquette
Photo: Franck Fontain

Experience Rara Easter

In this island nation famous for its festivals, Easter stands out.

Welcome to Haiti, and its one of a kind rara Easter!

Since Haiti is predominantly Catholic, you will see a lot of activity in churches in the lead up to Easter, some even organizing and leading marches through their parishes: some in Pétion-Ville, some in Lalue, some in Thomassin. For the devout, it’s a period of the year which never goes by without celebration.

If you pay close attention, though, you will notice there is another form of celebration going on – and it’s not a Catholic one.

haitian women in carnival decorations with trumpets — Rara band playing on vaksins
Photo: Kolektif 2 Dimansyon

History

In colonial times, from the moment they were unloaded from trade ships onto the island, slaves had to fight for everything: their survival, their freedom, and their culture. Because the first two were a harder, more substantial battle for them to win, they had to fight it every day until independence was won.

The cultures and languages they brought with them across the seas were viciously oppressed, and holding onto these was hard for people already fighting for survival and freedom. Slave masters were intent on ridding slaves of any thought, idea, or behavior that might make them think they were human.

When the Spanish colonised the island, they brought the Catholic calendar with them, and it remained standard on the island. The slave class found a way to keep their spiritual beliefs and practices alive by realigning their own traditions to match the timing of Catholic ones.

All throughout lent, slaves convened, but not to decide what they would give up. They convened in order to take something back – the musical traditions from their homelands, which they couldn’t normally risk under the watchful eye of the slave masters. During lent, musicians gathered and made music together, adapting customary instruments, traditions and narratives to their new life. Late at night, meeting in secluded locations, they found ways to celebrate their culture in all of its bright, bold loudness. Vodou was often a part of this celebration. Joining music and vodou together, a renewed and newly unified culture and religion arose.

This was the birth of rara, and the tradition is still alive and well in modern-day Haiti, and takes to the streets more boldly than ever before.

How to experience rara Easter

If you are staying in Haiti around Easter, rara band performances usually begin around Ash Wednesday and end with a bang on Easter Sunday. The artist lineup is never publicly announced, but you can catch them playing, dancing, laughing, and running through the streets of Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haïtien, Jacmel, Jérémie and more.

The sound of a rara band is unmistakable. A driven rhythm of drums, layered underneath a melody played on a couple of vaksin, a trumpet conventionally made from hollowed bamboo, but more often made of metal. You will hear the fast-paced scratching of the graj, against the loud, steady voices of people singing, stomping and dancing down the street.

As Martin Mull once put it, writing about music is like dancing about architecture. The spirit of rara is impossible to capture in words, so you’ll just have to come and see for yourself.

Written by Kelly Paulemon.

Published July 2019

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Parc Historique de la Canne à Sucre

April 14, 2019 by Editor

Visit Parc Historique de la Canne à Sucre

Once a working sugar cane plantation, Parc Historique de la Canne à Sucre has been transformed into a open-air museum where visitors can see what Caribbean plantation life was like in 1803, through its collection of colonial-style sugar cane boilers, presses, mills, and even an old narrow gauge steam train.

What was Caribbean plantation life like? See for yourself!

With its well-preserved cane pressing machinery, distilleries and historical buildings, spread over multiple acres, a visit here offers tactile insight into the days when it was fully-functioning, in the era when Haiti was in the last stages of its struggle for independence. Up to the early 19th century, cane sugar and its products played a huge role in Haiti’s internal economy and international trade. The museum pays tribute to the role Haiti played in the global balance of power at the time.

Parc Historique de la Canne à Sucre
Photo: Franck Fontain

The museum’s formal buildings are divided into themed rooms. One of the most popular is the Taíno-Amerindian room. It contains original artifacts from the pre-Colombus era, when Hispaniola was populated by Taíno and Arawak Amerindians. The household items and religious relics provide a treasure of insight into life before Christopher Columbus’ arrival in 1492.

Taking a guided tour through the park is a great way to understand more of what you’ll see. In the grounds you’ll stumble across a genuine steam engine parked on the grass. Follow the stone paths and you’ll find water mills, aqueducts, a rum distillery, and many other vestiges of plantation life. Everything has been preserved in its original form by the Auguste family. History buffs are in for a treat.

Events

As well as serving as Haiti’s premiere colonial era museum, the former plantation also hosts a variety of forward-focused cultural events. Jazz festivals have been taking place since 2007 and every December the park holds open-air concerts with Haitian headliners like Ram and Tabou Combo.

The annual October artisan market, Artisanat en Fete, is Haiti’s biggest craft fair. Every year 200-300 Haitian artisans are invited to Parc Historique de la Canne à Sucre to sell their wares. Thousands of tourists and residents descend on the Parc to do early Christmas shopping over a long weekend.

At the Artisanat en Fete you’ll find the full gamut of artisan products, from food, wine, honey and hot sauces to handbags, fashion, home décor, hammered metal and living room sets carved out of driftwood. It’s a three day extravaganza of food, shopping, and networking that cannot be missed!

The park has been updated to include some post-1800 comforts like bathrooms, restaurant stalls, and pavilions, making it a pleasant way to spend a day. Stone pathways zig-zag through the grass and when the tropical trees are in bloom the falling red flowers lay a flame-colored carpet across the grass.

Getting there

To find Parc Historique de la Canne à Sucre, drive down Boulevard du 15 Octobre until you reach the American Embassy. The park’s main entrance is located across the street behind decorative metal fences arched in bougainvillea flowers.

Written by Emily Bauman.

Published April 2019

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Sans-Souci Palace

April 11, 2019 by admin

Sans-Souci Palace

The ruins of Sans-Souci Palace are a UNESCO World Heritage monument to post-revolutionary opulence.

Sans-Souci Palace shares a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the Citadelle Laferrière. A visit to both sites is considered essential for any trip to Haiti, and the hike (or horse-ride) from Milot to the Palace and then on to the Citadelle is well-worth the effort.

Sans-Souci Palace, which translates to ‘the Worry-Free Palace’, dates back to 1811, just after Haiti had become the world’s first independent black republic. Despite the weight of time – and a significant earthquake during the nineteenth century – the ruins of the Sans-Souci Palace maintain an imposing air and stand as an inspiring testament to the opulent post-revolutionary era.

Visitors can spend an hour or two exploring the palace and grounds before heading onward to the Citadelle.

Sans-Souci Palace, Milot, Haiti
Photo: Angelo Miramonti

History

The Sans-Souci Palace was built to serve as a residence for the revolutionary leader Henri Christophe, who would become king in 1811, a year into the palace’s construction. The palace was one of many lavish constructions Christophe ordered at that time, including the Citadelle Laferrière.

Christophe used his reign as an opportunity to build up Haiti’s standing in the eyes of the international community – particularly its former colonizer, France. Christophe was well known for the luxurious parties and feasts he hosted at the palace, and the palace’s design – from the lush gardens to the intricate waterworks installation still visible in the ruins – reflects this luxury.

The name “Sans-Souci” itself came from another Haitian revolutionary, Jean-Baptiste Sans Souci, who Christophe had asked to form a united front with, but who refused out of mistrust. A decade or so before the palace was built, Christophe invited Sans Souci to visit him. When Sans Souci accepted, he was promptly assaulted by Christophe’s guards – and legend has it that the palace bearing his name was built where he was killed.

Visiting the north of Haiti is a great way to brush up on Haiti’s history; here, visitors can see many of the country’s important landmarks, historic sites, and monuments dedicated to the memories and visions of pivotal figures in Haiti’s history.

Aerial view of the ruins of Sans-Souci Palace, Haiti — Sans-Souci Palace, Milot, Haiti
Photo: Ricardo Lartigue

Where to eat

Restaurant Lakou Lakay prepares excellent, and huge, traditional Creole feasts – just be sure to make a reservation.

Where to sleep

Most travellers visiting Sans Souci and the Citadelle stay in Cap-Haïtien as accommodation options in Milot are fairly basic.

Getting there

Sans-Souci is located in Haiti’s North Department, close to the town of Milot.

Culturally curious travellers are well-advised to carve out a chunk of time for exploring the north of Haiti. While the capital city of Port-au-Prince and the entire South of the country are full of gorgeous destinations and exciting things to do, the North of Haiti is where a lot of the country’s history has its roots. Cap-Haïtien is the perfect base, and with the recent opening of the airport to international flights, visitors no longer need to arrive in Port-au-Prince first. Around a half-hour drive south of Cap-Haïtien is Milot, the jumping-off point for hikes to the UNESCO site.

For a small, negotiable, fee, a local guide will lead individuals or groups from nearby Milot up to the palace and guide you to the areas open to the public, which can otherwise be difficult to distinguish. A fair fee for a guide is US$20 to US$30, plus a fee for hiring a horse.

Written by Kelly Paulemon.

Published April 2019

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Citadelle Henri

April 4, 2019 by admin

Aerial view of Citadelle Laferrière and mountain range, Haiti — Citadelle Laferrière, Milot
Photo: Ricardo Lartigue

Citadelle Henri

Citadelle Henri is the largest fortress in the Americas.

Citadelle Henri, known to locals simply as La Citadelle, is the largest fortress in the Americas. Haitians call it the eighth wonder of the world and, if you make it up the summit of Pic Laferrière, you’ll see why.

The mountaintop fortress is massive, rising a vertiginous hundred and thirty feet from the mountaintop of Bonnet a L’Eveque, around 3000 feet above sea level. The Citadelle commands unparalleled views in every direction over the surrounding landscape of jungle-clad mountains, rivers and ocean.

Citadelle Henri, Milot
Photo: Anton Lau

What You’ll See

The imposing structure was built to demonstrate the power of a newly-independent Haiti, but also to protect its citizens if the French attempted to retake the nation. The 100,000 square feet building includes several cisterns and storehouses, designed to provide enough food and water for the royal family and up to 5000 people to survive an entire year under siege.

The Citadelle is equipped with over 150 cannons – mostly captured in battle from the English, the French and the Spanish – and thousands of cannon balls, once over 50,000 in total. With such an armory and walls over 13 feet wide and 100 feet high, the fortress was impenetrable.

Fortunately, the French never returned, the canons were never fired in combat, and the Citadelle is much the same today as it was 200 years ago.

Visitors can spend a few hours exploring the historic site. You’ll discover ramparts, drawbridges, canon batteries, galleries, corridors, hidden passages and blind corners designed to outwit invaders. Most of the windows and ramparts overlook sheer drops down the flanks of Pic Laferrière, and beyond that offer spectacular views of the north of Haiti. Inside the courtyard there’s a brand-new museum, gallery and restroom, as well as a small gift shop selling drinks and postcards.

Citadelle Laferrière is Haiti’s most popular tourist destination for Haitians and visitors alike, and occupies a visible place of pride in Haitian culture. You’ll recognise the signature triangular façade on 5 HTG coins and 100 HTG bills, and on the covers of children’s school textbooks.

citadelle Laferrière, Haiti, with mountains in background — Citadelle Laferrière in Milot
Photo: Angelo Miramonti

History

Citadelle Laferrière was constructed between 1805 and 1820, after the African-descended population of Haiti led a successful revolution to throw off their colonial enslavers and declare independence from France. It took 15 years and 20,000 people to build.

Citadelle Laferrière was part of a larger fortification system which included Fort Jacques and Fort Alexandre; all built to protect Haiti from future attacks by colonizers who might sail over from neighboring islands. While other forts were built earlier as part of the revolution, the construction of Citadelle Laferrière was ordered by Henri Christophe in 1805, in the year following the achievement of independence.

The Citadelle towers one hundred and thirty feet over the mountaintop, but even standing at the base of the fortress, you can see far out to sea. More importantly, the Citadelle could be seen from far out at sea – the fortress was a sign to any would-be challengers sailing toward the newly-free nation that Haiti was prepared to defend itself. Overseen by Christophe, construction of the Citadelle was completed in 1820.

A woman hikes up the path to Citadelle Laferrière, Haiti — Citadelle Laferrière, Haiti
Photo: Angelo Miramonti

Getting there

The Citadelle is located in the town of Milot, a six- to eight-hour drive north of Port-au-Prince.

The path to the Citadelle begins near the entrance to the nearby Sans-Souci Palace. Here, you will be asked to pay a small fee, and a local guide can accompany you to the top. You’ll also find vendors at Sans-Souci, offering drinks and snacks to fuel your hike and souvenirs once you’ve returned.

To make your way up the summit to the Citadelle itself, you have two options: hiking on foot or, for US$15, riding on horseback. Both options are just as scenic and authentic, and both offer their own type of adventure.

The route from Sans-Souci to the Citadalle is only 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) but the climb is significant at over 2000 feet (700 metres), so expect the hike to take you more than two hours. For this reason, you might prefer to stay overnight in Milot or Cap-Haïtien rather than attempting the hike after a long trip from Port-au-Prince or elsewhere.

Written by Kelly Paulemon.

Published April 2019

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Explore the enchanting ruins of Fort Saint-Louis

March 9, 2019 by admin

Tree roots growing down into the ruined passages of Fort des Anglais, Haiti — Fort Saint-Louis, Haiti
Photo: Mikkel Ulriksen

Explore the enchanting ruins of Fort Saint-Louis

A microcosm of Haitian history

The overgrown ruins of this 300 year-old French-built fort will enchant visitors for hours (and archaeologists for days), but to get there you’ll need to hire a boat.

Fort Saint-Louis stands on an islet in the Bay of St Louis, and is accessible via a short boat ride from Fort de Olivier, a fortress on the nearby peninsula of Saint Louis du Sud. Constructed at the same time, these two forts are often called ‘sisters,’ and are two of many strategically dotted along the coastline.

Just outside the seaside fortress, an abandoned shipwreck peeks up from underwater. For locals, this shipwreck is a microcosm of Haitian history. Across the country, relics of more dangerous times dot the landscape, their defences now serving to preserve cultural memories instead of material treasure, and changing over time as the years and the tropical storms assert their strength.

Aerial photo of shipwreck at Fort des Anglais, Haiti — Abandoned shipwreck at Fort Saint-Louis
Photo: Mikkel Ulriksen

The extensive ruins of modern-day Fort Saint-Louis rise steeply from a craggy islet, the curtain wall of stone now thickly overgrown with vines and trees that blow in the tropic coastal breeze. After three hundred years of equatorial sunshine, sea salt and hurricanes, the outline of the fort is in remarkably good condition, and it’s still possible to walk through its many chambers and admire the original carved features set into the outer walls. You can still walk through some of the caves originally networked into the fortress.

Walking under the arches of the structure of the fort with branches and lianas hanging left and right feels surreal; it is almost as though you are one of the shift guards, waiting for the British to invade at any moment. Although severely weathered, the fort feels as towering and as imposing as it must have been three centuries ago.

Fort Saint-Louis
Photo: Mikkel Ulriksen

Built in 1702 by French occupiers, Fort Saint-Louis was designed to defend the Haitian territory against their colonial competitors – namely the British Empire. In 1748, less than fifty years later, the was captured by the British. As a result, it’s now known as Fort des Anglais by many locals.

The southern coastline of Haiti was hotly contested in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as a foothold from which to defend the country’s riches. Although modern Haiti is known for its pristine beaches, colonial-era Haiti made a name for itself in European cities through the high-quality goods brought back by traders returning from its shores. Fort Saint-Louis was built just five years after the French and Spanish divided up the island of Hispaniola into two separate countries – Dominican Republic on the East and Haiti on the West.

Person stands on the bow of a boat to Fort des Anglais, Haiti — Boat to Fort Saint-Louis
Photo: Franck Fontain

Getting there

Fort des Oliviers is located on a small peninsula in Saint Louis du Sud. From there, Fort Saint-Louis is on a small island a short boat ride away. For a small fee, the local sailors offer their boats – and often times, dugout canoes – as a mode of transportation.

Get the most out of your visit

Tour guides, who often live nearby in Saint Louis du Sud, or in the areas surrounding Fort des Oliviers, are always ready to provide their services by accompanying visitors and talking them through the history of the fort and the features that have stood the test of time.

Today, Fort Saint-Louis stands as a testament to a period in time and a state of mind that permeate the way modern Haitians understand and process their history.

Walking through the fort with someone who lives the complexity of that history is the best way to gain a nuanced understanding of what this beautiful ruin means.

Written by Kelly Paulemon.

Published March 2019

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History & Heritage

The Museum of the Haitian National Pantheon

Built partially underground, this museum displays artefacts illustrating Haiti’s history with an emphasis on its revolutionary years and its political and cultural forefathers. Get up close to artefacts from a Colombus ship, slave shackles, murder weapons and the bell that rang in independence.

About the museum

Discover Sacred Vodou Symbols!

What you’ll see

Temporary exhibits

start your day the Haitian way

Relax in gorgeous gardens

Getting there

Find the Museum of the Haitian National Pantheon

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Visit Parc Historique de la Canne à Sucre

What was Caribbean plantation life like? See for yourself!

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Sans-Souci Palace

The ruins of Sans-Souci Palace are a UNESCO World Heritage monument to post-revolutionary opulence.

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The Birds of Haiti on Your Wall

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The Birds of Haiti on Your Wall

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Citadelle Henri

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Citadelle Henri

Citadelle Henri is the largest fortress in the Americas.

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Discover Sacred Vodou Symbols!

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a touch of haitian wisdom

Citadelle Henri

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Explore the enchanting ruins of Fort Saint-Louis

A microcosm of Haitian history

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