[1] The palace's name, French for "carefree", is shared with the loyal Haitian Revolution military leader Jean-Baptiste Sans Souci, who was executed by Henri Christophe in 1803.

It was the most important of nine palaces commissioned by the king, as well as fifteen châteaux, numerous forts, and sprawling summer homes on his twenty plantations.

"[5] Close to the palace is the renowned mountaintop fortress; the Citadelle Laferrière, built under a decree by Henri Christophe to repel a feared French invasion that never occurred.

Other scholars argue, the palace's architecture is inspired by Germain Boffrand's designs for the Château de la Malgrange for Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, near Nancy.

[10] Haitian architect Patrick Delatour, who was involved in restoring Sans Souci-Milot, also insisted that it resembles French urban planning if anything, not German.

Haitian historian Henock Trouillot suggests that Christophe built the palace exactly “to prove how solidly his power was implanted in this soil” by killing his enemy.

[13] Trouillot alludes to how Christopher's actions aligned with Dahoman oral narratives and that the Tacoodonou story inspired him to build a palace where he killed his enemy.

Proud of its magnificence, the Palace of Sans-Souci was an important step in Henri Christophe's plan to demonstrate to foreigners, particularly Europeans and Americans, the power and capability of the black race.

The African pride in the construction of the king's palace was captured by the comment of his advisor and architect, Pompée Valentin Vastey (Baron Valentin de Vastey), who said that the palace and its nearby church, "erected by descendants of Africans, show that we have not lost the architectural taste and genius of our ancestors who covered Ethiopia, Egypt, Carthage, and old Spain with their superb monuments.

Described as "one of the most remarkable attractions in the Western Hemisphere", the Palace of Sans-Souci is "seldom visited by foreigners" due to "decades of political instability and lawlessness" in Haiti.