
On the steep hillside above upscale Pétionville, the Jalousie district is instantly recognisable: in 2013 more than a thousand of its close-packed houses were painted in bold pinks, blues, greens and yellows, inspired by the “cities in the sky” of Haitian painter Préfète Duffaut. From a distance the whole slope reads like a vast mosaic. It’s a striking, much-photographed sight — though worth knowing the colour project was also controversial, brightening a densely populated, low-income community without changing its underlying hardships. Best appreciated from viewpoints across the valley.
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Jalousie, hillside above Pétionville · landmark painted-houses neighbourhood · best viewed from across the valley