The Sans-Souci Palace was the royal residence of King Henri Christophe I of Haiti, the self imposed monarch who as a former slave had fought in the American Revolutionary War alongside George Washington, so that later on, he would be a key leader in the Haitian Revolution in 1804, when the small nation gained independence from France.

As it was the most important of nine palaces built by the king, in addition to the fifteen châteaux, numerous forts, and sprawling summer homes on his twenty plantations, the construction of the palace started in 1810 and was completed in 1813. It is located in the town of Milot, in the Haitian Nord Department., and the name translated from French means “carefree.” Still, Haiti was divided in two parts in 1807, where Christophe became President of the northern half, officially known as the State of Haiti.

Seeking a more lofty title, Christophe decided to establish a kingdom in the north, and in 1811 had himself crowned Henry I, King of Haiti. His full title also established him, among other things, as a self-appointed “Destroyer of tyranny, Regenerator and Benefactor of the Haïtian nation.”

The new king needed a royal residence, so he ordered the construction of Sans-Souci Palace at Milot, a former French plantation that Christophe had managed during the Revolution. Thousands of slaves completed the building in 1813—Christophe’s ruthless national policy of forced labor contributed to the swift construction—and soon became a bustling whirlwind of feasting and dancing, with grandiose gardens, artificial springs, and a system of waterworks.