It took a month of seeing all of Vietnam, from the stalls of Hanoi to the quiet shores of Mui Ne, to fully appreciate the country. So when we arrived in Saigon, I felt like I needed to cap off the experience with as much history and culture as possible.
Saigon’s The Independence Palace, known also as Reunification Palace, was built on the site of Norodom Palace and served as the South Vietnamese president’s home and office during the Vietnam War. It is an important landmark because of its role in the Fall of Saigon when a North Vietnamese tank came crashing through the gates, signaling their victory.
This post contains affiliate links that can earn this website a small income. They will not cost you anything to use.
Norodom Palace was a Neoclassical structure that served as the palace for the Governor-General of French Indochina. After World War II, Japan took over France’s role in Vietnam. When Vietnam gained independence, the palace was headquarters for the government, but in 1962 the palace was bombed and demolished. A new palace was commissioned and built by Vietnamese architect Ngo Viet Thu, completed in 1966.
President Ngo Dinh Diem fled the country before it was completed, so General Nguyen Van Thieu lived there until the Ho Chi Minh Campaign. The palace has been left very much in the condition it was left in at the end of the Vietnam War. It features long hallways of banquet rooms and the original furnishings. The gate and even the tank that crashed through it in April 1975 greet you upon entry.
The lavish and modernly designed palace seemed vastly different from the simple home of Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi. The design let a lot of light into the palace. I was impressed at the full-scale movie theater and banquet kitchen, as well as the expensive furnishings found throughout the palace.
The inscription next to the helicopter on the roof memorializes the moment when bombs were dropped on that spot by the Communist North. Exploring the war rooms and seeing the basement shooting range made the Vietnam War all the more real.
It would be like being able to walk around the preserved home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis after the Civil War as a monument to the triumph of the other side. But if you’re in Saigon, I think it’s well worth a visit to put the war into perspective.
Have you visited Saigon’s Reunification Palace?
To better understand Vietnam’s history in Saigon, check out one of Urban Adventures tours.
Henry Nguyen says
Good article, beautiful pics and insight, except for a couple of flawed facts:
. “When Vietnam gained independence, the palace was headquarters for the government…”. Vietnam first declared independence from France in 1945, but continued to fight against French recolonization until 1954 when the country was divided into north and south Vietnam(s). Hanoi was/is the capital of north Vietnam while this palace was only headquarters for the government of Republic of Vietnam.
. “President Ngo Dinh Diem fled the country before it was completed.”. The 1st President of the Republic of Vietnam or south Vietnam was overthrown by a CIA organized military coup d’etat in 1963 and killed alongside with his closest adviser/brother Mr. Ngo Dinh Nhu.
. “so General Nguyen Van Thieu lived there until the Ho Chi Minh Campaign.”. Several military coup(s) happened and symbolically, all leaders resided there including the 2nd elected President of south Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu. President Thieu, however was not the last nor the only leaders of the south during the Ho Chi Minh campaign: he vacated the palace, resigned, fled to Taiwan after handed presidency to a certain elderly Mr. Nguyen Van Huong who in turn, quickly passed on to a general Duong Van Minh. It was President Minh who made the official surrender on April 30, 1975.