Ho Chi Minh City Museum (Vietnamese language: Viện bảo tàng Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh) is an historical site in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The museum is situated at the corner of Lý Tự Trọng street and Nam Kỳ khởi nghĩa street, near Reunification Palace, originally Independence Palace.
The building now occupied by the museum was built during the French colonial era and was the residence of high-ranking French colonial officers Called Gia Long Palace before the Fall of Saigon. It was the residence of President of the Republic of Vietnam Ngô Đình Diệm from 27 February 1962 onwards. Diem had been Prime Minister since 1954, and president since 1955, but originally lived in Independence Palace until it was bombed by two mutinous pilots of the Vietnam Air Force. As a result, Diem had to relocate, and ordered a new Independence Palace to be built, in the meantime moving to Gia Long Palace. It was the last place Diem worked before he was assassinated in a coup d'etat in November 1963. Diem ordered the construction of three extremely deep underground tunnels leading from the palace to other parts of the city so that he could escape in the event of a coup. During his downfall, Diem is widely believed to have used one of these escape routes to escape the siege on the palace, which caused considerable damage. He fled to a supporter's house in Cholon but was captured and executed a day later.
The successor presidents still worked there until the completion of re-built Independence Palace, now Reunification Palace, in 1966.
After the Fall of Saigon, the Gia Long Palace was turned into a museum.
|
|
Wikis
Map
Search