We got a group photo and then headed inside. The first step inside was so cooling! The thick stone walls kept out the heat despite the sun beating down. Charlie was full of great tid bits of history. What amazed us was the size and the ingenuity in building the Citadelle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadelle_Laferri%C3%A8re).
The first place we come to inside is the rounded part. Inside it is basically a triangled room with no roof. Because there was no roof, light just flooded the whole area. It was a series of cannon ports. There was a pulley system to get them all the way up and over to the respective ports. This section did not have any cannons anymore.
Next we hit the side courtyard and we could see the reservoirs to catch the rain water as there was no water source at the top.
We crossed the area where the drawbridge was located. We could see the pulleys where the rope would have been to pull the drawbridge up. The drawbridge and ropes were removed in 1915 when the US occupied Haiti. At that same time, many other artifacts were removed.
We walked past cannon ball storage rooms and walked up a flight of stairs to a terrace lined with long cannons. Many of them just resting on blocks but one was still on it’s “carriage”. You could see the grooves in the floor where it was rolled back and forth to get the best angle when firing. Most of the cannons were “borrowed” from French ships left in Cape Haitian after the 1804 revolution. One in particular was a gift from England. The seal and coat of arms still visible.
Charlie told us a story about Henri Christophe and Napoleon. Apparently they served together in the French army and became friends. When Christophè built the Citadelle, he had a picture of Napoleon painted on the wall at the center of the lower terrace of the cannons. After the loss to the British at Waterloo, Napoleon was imprisoned. The story goes that when Christophè heard that Napoleon was said to be crying about his imprisonment, Christophè destroyed the painting on the wall because he was upset with his friend for not being more stalwart. Who knows if that is true but what a story! :)
Charlie shared all kinds of cool stories, like the one about Christophè’s brother in law. Apparently the BIL was put in charge of one of the powder houses and was not so smart. He lit a cigarette and ended up blowing up the powder house! He is buried in a chamber at the Citadelle.
According to history, Christophè committed suicide in the Citadelle and is buried there too. All the sites I am finding say he is buried in the large cement mound in the center of the upper courtyard to protect his body from being mutilated. But according to Charlie, that is just a story and his body is buried in secret at the Citadelle, not in the cement mound.
Because water was in very short supply, the builders created a series of “v” channels to collect rain water and drain down to the various reservoirs around the complex. It is pretty incredible.
A Haitian businessman has been working to restore the Citadelle and the changes are remarkable. The cost must be through the roof but it is so worth it. Haitians should be so proud of the National History Park, despite the human toll it took to get the locations built.
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