The Haitian National Pantheon Museum (MUPANAH) was created 40 years ago, on April 7, 1983. Its construction was financed mainly by funds drawn from the accounts of the "Régie du tabac et des matchettes".

The space housing the museum was originally intended to venerate the memory of the former dictator François Duvalier, but following the opposition of public opinion it was transformed into a mausoleum for the Fathers of the Nation.

According to the decree creating MUPANAH in October 1982, the mission of the institution is to perpetuate and disseminate the memory of the Fathers of the Fatherland, to formulate, in accordance with the objectives set by the public authorities, the general policy for the establishment and the administration of historical museums through the regions and local communities of Haiti and to participate in the conservation of heritage as well as the dissemination of national culture.

In the museum there is a sarcophagus that preserves the symbolic remains of the Fathers of the Nation. There is also the silver rifle with which Henry Christophe committed suicide in 1820, the bell which announced the independence of the country in 1804, chains that the colonists used for slaves, several objects used by Toussaint including a large Assotor drum, a sword by Alexandre Pétion and a Portrait of Henry Christophe and the anchor from the ship of the Santa Maria, one of Christopher Columbus' caravels.

The Haitian National Pantheon Museum holds an important collection of more than a thousand works of art, decorative objects, historical documents and archaeological pieces.

HL/ HaitiLibre