Historical complex of Ba Đình
In Ba Đình Square on 2 September 1945, President Hồ Chí Minh
read out his historical, freshly penned Declaration of Independence for the
Democratic Republic of Việt
Ba
Đình Square
According to historian Nguyễn Vinh Phúc, Hồ Chí Minh’s
platform, covered in red cloth, was installed in the middle of the Square where
half a million people had gathered to hear. Following a salute to the flag and
Hồ Chí Minh’s speech came the swearing-in ceremony of the new Provisional
Government. Then the newly appointed Minister of Internal Affairs Võ Nguyên
Giáp – the future victorious general during the American-Việt Nam War –
discussed the domestic situation and the new Government’s policies. The
Minister of Propagation, Trần Huy Liệu, then rose to his feet and described the
handing over of the imperial symbols of power by representatives of the Nguyễn
Dynasty to representatives of the new Government. The royal seal and the sword
were shown to the people and the gathering ended with the jubilant crowd
marching through the streets of Hà Nội.
Twenty-five years later, President Hồ Chí Minh died on Việt
The square has become a sacred place to Hanoians. In the
center stands a flagpole and it is here that National Day celebrations with
military parades take place.
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| President Hồ Chí Minh’s Mausoleum by night |
On the west side of Ba Đình Square looms the grey granite
and marble bulk of Hồ Chí Minh’s Mausoleum. When he died, President Hồ Chí
Minh’s body was embalmed and preserved in a temple where people could come to
pay their respects.
Just inside the marble foyer, the visitor is greeted with
his words: “Nothing is more important than independence and freedom.” His body
lies under glass upstairs, dimly lit, his hands resting on the black silk
coffin covers.
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| President Hồ Chí Minh’s stilt house |
Behind his Mausoleum is Uncle Hồ’s stilt house. Following independence
from the French in 1954, the president, unwilling to occupy the pretentious
President’s Palace, had an unassuming wooden house built for himself behind the
palace, modeling it in the style of an ethnic minority stilt house. A wooden
house with open sides, hung with spilt bamboo screens, the ground floor he used
for meetings. Here are the old-fashioned telephone and the table around which
he sat with his Politburo. Upstairs are his bedroom and study, sparsely
furnished with bed and desks and an old-fashioned radio. It is said that Hồ Chí
Minh lived here for the last eleven years of his life, even part of the time
during the American-Việt Nam War – there was an underground bunker next door.
Walking through his home and garden, gazing at his fishpond, one feels the
humanness of the man.
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| Hồ Chí Minh’s Museum |
Quite near Hồ Chí Minh’ stilt house is the museum dedicated
to his memory.
The museum was opened on 19 May 1990, President Hồ Chí
Minh's birthday. Housed in a four-storey building designed in the shape of a
lotus flower to reflect the President’s noble character, the
10,000 square-meter museum depicts the life and times of Hồ Chí Minh and
his major contribution to the founding of the Socialist Republic of Việt
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| Presidential Palace |
Built as the Hotel de la Residence Superieure du Tonkin, it
was designed by Adolphe Bussy and completed in 1919. It might be a French
private hotel lift from the
