Musée du Panthéon National Haïtien
Haiti's national museum on the Champ de Mars, largely underground, holding the founders' tombs.
The Musée du Panthéon National Haïtien, known as MUPANAH, occupies a site on the Champ de Mars in central Port-au-Prince. Work began in 1974 and the museum opened on 7 April 1983. Most of the building lies below ground, entered through a wide concrete opening, with reflecting pools and gardens on the roof. The buried construction meant that the earthquake of January 2010, which destroyed much of the surrounding city, left the structure with only limited damage.
The central hall contains the tombs of the founders of Haitian independence, among them Toussaint Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Henry Christophe and Alexandre Pétion, lit from above. Galleries trace the island from the Taíno period through French colonial rule and the revolution of 1791 to 1804 and into the twentieth century. Objects include chains and instruments of punishment used on enslaved people, the bell said to have announced independence, the pistol with which Christophe killed himself and an anchor attributed to the Santa María.
Highlights
- Tombs of Toussaint Louverture, Dessalines, Christophe and Pétion
- Largely underground building of 1983 with rooftop pools and gardens
- Objects of enslavement shown alongside the bell of independence
- Anchor attributed to Columbus's Santa María and Christophe's pistol
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