Saturday 29 September 2012

Unification Palace Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Vietnam

 
The Reunification Palace is located where the Norodom Palace was formerly erected way back during the French colonial period. This original Palace was destroyed in 1962 during the Vietnam War when an aircraft bombed the left wing of the Palace.
Unification Palace

It was decided to demolish the Palace and rebuild it. President Diem commissioned the building of the Palace but was assassinated shortly after construction started. It was designed by Paris-trained Vietnamese architect Ngo Viet Thu. The construction was undertaken by Saigon engineers and was completed in 1966 after three years of construction.


Reception Room

Originally known as Presidential Palace or Independence Palace The Palace is most well known for or Hall, it is now known as Reunification Palace. It merges classic 60's architecture with the principles of feng shui and Chinese calligraphy. The design of the building is said to represent the Chinese character Hung which means the nation to be prosperous forever.

Conference Room
On the ground floor of the Unification Palace are the meeting room and conference room, which has a boat-shaped table that was often used for conferences.

On the second floor are the offices of the president and vice president, the banquet hall, the receiving rooms, and private halls of the President, his wife and Vice-President

Reception Room
On the third floor are the recreation room, card-playing room, movie theatre and more. This floor also possesses a terrace with a heliport where a helicopter is parked. There is a replica of the US Helicopter that was used for the evacuation of the President before the North Vietnamese arrived..

The residential quarters are in the back of the building. The fourth floor was used for dancing.

Basement Room
The basement levels contain a bomb shelter built with thick walls and underground tunnels housing a command centre. This area served as headquaters and the heart of operations for the South during the war. Included are a telecommunications centre, operation room, mobile radio section, a spare radio station, war room (full of 1960s phones, radios, office equipment and maps) President's bedroom, large kitchen, and a shooting range. It is left exactly as it was found when the war ended.

Mercedes
The Palace also garages a Mercedes car which was one of the cars used by the President of the Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu

The Reunification Palace is one the most important attractions in Ho Chi Minh City because it was the site where the Vietnam war ended.

The Palace is most famous for Tank (No.  843) crashing through the gates on April 30th 1975, when South Vietnam surrendered and the war finished. The two tanks in the palace grounds were used to break through the gates of the palace by the North Vietnamese Army

Information-
Entrance Ticket : 15,000 dong which includes free guided tours (English, French, Chinese and Japanese).
Ticket sales: 7:30 am until 11:00 am and 13:00pm until 16:00pm.
Palace open: 7:30 am until noon, 13:00 until 17:00 pm


Website - http://www.dinhdoclap.gov.vn/#translate-en

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