Editor’s note: This is the second of two installments about the rehabilitation and preservation work at the Citadelle Laferrière, the UNESCO World Heritage site in Milot, northern Haiti. See part 1 in photos here.
MILOT, Haiti — High above the plains of northern Haiti, Citadelle Laferrière has stood for more than two centuries as a symbol of freedom, resistance and Black sovereignty. Built after independence to protect the world’s first Black republic from foreign invasion, the massive stone fortress remains Haiti’s most powerful historical monument.
Today, it is also a construction site.
Since September 2025, engineers and workers have been carrying out rehabilitation and paraseismic reinforcement work at the Citadelle as part of a long-term effort by the Institute for the Safeguarding of National Heritage (ISPAN)—a government agency under the Ministry of Culture’s oversight—to protect the UNESCO World Heritage site from earthquakes, erosion and structural decay. The work includes sealing cracks, reinstalling a balcony and building small skyway bridges that will allow visitors to walk from room to room and more.
“Without the Citadelle, I wouldn’t be alive.”
Bernadin Blaise, construction worker
For Bernadin Blaise, a construction worker from nearby Milot, the work is deeply personal.
“Without the Citadelle, I wouldn’t be alive,” Blaise said, seated in front of the fortress as he spoke with a friend. Dressed in red work clothes, he gestured toward the stone walls behind him—walls that have provided him steady work for more than 25 years.
Blaise remembers when the Citadelle was in far worse condition.
“When I was a child, the monument was really deteriorating,” he said. “But when ISPAN started working here seriously, everything changed. The Citadelle gave me work. It fed my family.”
Preserving a national symbol
Citadelle Laferrière, built in the early 19th century under King Henri Christophe, is both a national monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But like much of Haiti’s cultural patrimony, it has suffered from decades of underinvestment, political instability and natural disasters—including the devastating 2010 earthquake.
Engineer Jean Hérold Pérard, who is overseeing the current phase of work, said the focus is on strengthening the structure without altering its historical integrity.
“We are doing paraseismic reinforcement to reduce vulnerability in case of earthquakes,” Pérard explained. “At the same time, we are rehabilitating damaged sections while respecting the original architecture.”
After sealing cracks, workers will inject cement into the walls to reinforce wooden supports and stabilize stone elements—all painstaking tasks carried out under difficult logistical conditions in a country facing multiple crises.
Heritage amid national crisis
The rehabilitation continues at a time when Haiti is grappling with widespread gang violence, economic collapse and a humanitarian emergency that affects millions of people. The country has recorded more than 1.4 million displaced people nationwide as of Fall 2025. While the population struggles with insecurity and road blockages, the Citadelle Laferrière remains accessible—an exception in a nation where travel on national highways has become increasingly dangerous.
For residents of Milot, the project represents more than preservation; it is one of the few remaining sources of economic activity.
“People here live because of the Citadelle,” said Ramsès Étienne, a lifelong Milot resident. “We don’t want the Citadelle to perish. If it falls, the town falls with it.”
“We don’t want the Citadelle to perish. If it falls, the town falls with it.”
Ramsès Etienne, Milot resident.
Tourism linked to the Citadelle once sustained hundreds of families in northern Haiti. Although visitor numbers have dropped sharply in recent years, locals hope that safeguarding the monument now will allow tourism to return when security conditions improve.
Labor, dignity and continuity
On the grounds of the fortress, workers hammer nails into wooden beams, repair supports and carry materials across uneven stone surfaces—labor that connects today’s Haitians with those who first built the Citadelle more than 200 years ago.
For Blaise and others, working at the Citadelle is both a job and a form of stewardship.
“This monument belongs to all Haitians,” he said. “If we don’t protect it, we lose part of ourselves.”
As Haiti struggles to hold together its institutions, heritage sites like Citadelle Laferrière stand as reminders of what the country has already survived—and what it still has worth protecting. The rehabilitation work underway in Milot is not only reinforcing stone walls, but also sustaining memory, identity and hope in a nation searching for stability. Pérard said the rehabilitation and paraseismic project is scheduled to end in March.
The following are videos of site workers and residents who spoke with The Haitian Times on Dec. 22, 2025:
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