This dramatic fortress is perched like some deity’s ship on top of a high mountain, with a sheer drop on three sides. Built for Henri Christophe, leader of the slave rebellion, it is said to be the largest citadel in the western hemisphere, its walls reaching 130 ft (40 m) high and 13 ft (4 m) thick.
Some 20,000 workers are said to have died during its construction. It was designed to support the island community for up to a year, in case the country should ever come under siege by the French. The expected attack never came, however, and it remains a symbol of Haiti’s independence.
The Citadelle Laferrière or, Citadelle Henri Christophe, or simply the Citadelle, is a large early 19th-century fortress situated on the Bonnet à l’Evêque mountaintop in Nord, Haiti. Wikipedia