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HIGHLIGHTS:
* REUNIFICATION HALL- THONG NHAT
PALACE -
Palace captures spirit of unified nation Twenty six years ago,
on April 30, 1975, the world watched as the Viet Nam Liberation
Army’s Tank No. 390 crashed through the main gate of the
Independence Palace – headquarters of the US –backed Sai Gon
administration. Then, as now, this historic moment is regarded as the
exact time when Viet Nam ceased to be a nation divided. The image symbolizes the great and historic triumph of the Vietnamese people,
who had at last achieved independence and freedom for the south, and
unity for their homeland. Since then, the palace has been given a
new name, the Reunification Palace, and has become a historic
memorial of great significance in Sai Gon, now called HCM City. The
new name represents Viet Nam’s entry into a new era of unity and
peace, marking a break from the palace’s long history as a symbol of
colonialism and oppression.
Ten years after the
gunshot at Da Nang that launched the French invasion of Viet Nam in
1858, the French colonizers established the Union of Indochina,
including north, central and southern Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos.
To
stamp their imperial authority on the region, the French ordered the
construction of the Indochina Governor - General’s Palace in Sai
Gon. They named it Norodom Palace, after the Cambodian king of the
time, who had earlier signed a treaty recognizing French
protection.
The palace was built on
an area of 12ha, bounded by four main roads - Nam Ky Khoi Nghia,
Nguyen Du, Huyen Tran Cong Chua and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai - with its
main gate looking out over Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Avenue.
The palace was
built over a three-year period from 1868-1871, following a
colonial-style design by French architect Hermite. After the defeat
of the French forces at Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Agreement was
signed in 1954 and France pulled out of Viet Nam. This heralded the
total liberation of the north, but events in the south took a
different turn. There, the US gradually replaced the French,
installing Ngo Dinh Diem as Prime Minister. In September 1954,
French General Paul Ely handed Norodom Palace to Diem, who
rechristened it as the Independence Palace.
Diem was entirely
dependent on US support; with their backing, he refused to carry out
the Geneva Agreement pledge to hold free general elections for
national reunification .Instead, he unilaterally established the
Republic of Viet Nam in the southern part of the country, and
proceeded to rule over it in an authoritarian and nepotistic
fashion. As a result, discontent spread rapidly. On February 27,
1962, the armed forces staged a military coup. Two AD-6s dropped
bombs on the Independence Palace, destroying the main portion of its
left wing. Seeing that the building was beyond repair, Diem decided
to raze it to the ground and erect a new one, much larger and
stronger, on the same foundations. The new palace was designed by
architect Ngo Viet Thu, for which he became the first Asian to win
the Rome Laureate, France’s top prize for architecture. In
designing the new Independence Palace, Thu struck an excellent
balance between modern architectural style and traditional Oriental
elements. For its layout, he adopted a Chinese framework, reflecting
an Asian philosophy and way of life. The ground floor of the palace
covers an area of 4,500sq.m, and the palace’s total area is
20,000sq.m.It includes 95 rooms and halls, each with its own
decorative style that both matches its specific function and blends
into the palace’s overall design. Construction began on July 1, 1962
and was completed on October 31, 1966. But it was delayed six months
due to the coup d' etat against Diem, which saw him and his
younger brother Ngo Dinh Nhu assassinated on November 2,
1963.
Following Diem’s
overthrow, the Sai Gon administration went through a period of
political turbulence, including several more coups and purges,
before Nguyen Van Thieu and Nguyen Cao Ky assumed power in June
1965.On October 31, 1966, the Thieu-Ky administration inaugurated
the new Independence Palace. The following September, Thieu took up
residence in the palace with his family. He lived and worked there
for eight years. The first floor’s Grand Hall, the largest in the
Palace, covers 448sq.m and was used as the venue for all formal
occasions. In the last days of the Sai Gon regime in April 1975, this
Grand Hall witnessed the successive departures of three presidents
of the tottering southern administration. Once the general uprising
and offensive of 1975 was launched, the Liberation Army began
closing in on Sai Gon. Thieu announced his resignation on April 21
and fled the country three days later. Vice-President Tran Van Huong
assumed the presidency for one week, but also quickly departed,
handing power to Duong Van Minh, a retired general, on April 28.Two
days later, the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign saw the Liberation
Army march on Sai Gon. At 10:45am on April 30, Tank No. 843, under
Bui Quang Than’s command, rammed the Independence Palace’s side
gate. Then, Tank No. 390, under Vu Dang Toan’s command, crashed
through the main gate and made for the front yard. Bui Quang Than,
promptly ran up to the balcony of the fourth floor, took down the
flag of the Republic of Viet Nam and hoisted the flag of the South
Viet Nam Liberation Front.
At that moment, in the
Grand Hall, President Duong Van Minh and the Sai Gon cabinet
unconditionally surrendered to the revolutionary power. Never again
would a president live in the palace. Nor would it ever be known as
"the dragon-head palace", so called because the dragon was Thieu’s
favorite symbol of power. In November, 1975, the Grand Hall was the
venue for a political conference on the mechanics of reuniting north
and south. To mark this event’s historic significance, the palace’s
name was changed to the Reunification Palace.
A
sketch of the palace:
Besides the famous
Great Hall, visitors to the palace will see several other important
rooms on the first floor. One is the Cabinet Hall, which contains a
large oval table and chairs. Nearby is the Banquet Room, where the
president hosted formal receptions, which is graced with an oil
painting by Ngo Viet Thu for the inauguration of the palace in
1966.The painting gives expression to two Vietnamese ideals: the
beautiful and bountiful land, and the peaceful landscape. The
painting includes typical landscapes from the north, center and
south of the country.
The second floor was
used for official purposes - government meetings, administrative
work, receiving local and foreign guests, and so on – as well as
hosting the living quarters of the president’s family. A remarkable
feature of the second floor are the marble curtains, whose bamboo
knots represent a gentleman’s lack of jealousy and animosity. The
central staircase on the second floor was the scene of an event that
shattered the morale of the Sai Gon regime during its last month in
power.
On April 8, Nguyen
Thanh Trung, a member of the Viet Nam Communist Party operating as a
double agent in the Sai Gon Air force, was ordered to fly an F-5E and
bomb the liberated areas. High in the sky, however, he suddenly left
his formation, heading back to the Independence Palace and bombing
it. Two bombs fell, damaging the helicopter pad and destroying the
central staircase. After the bombing, Trung flew to the liberated
zone and landed safely on Ba Ra Airfield in Phuoc Long (now Binh
Phuoc Province). Today, he is an Army Hero and Colonel, serving as
chief of Viet Nam Airlines Contingent 919.
The palace’s third
floor was devoted to the president’s family, including a library, a
hall for the first lady’s receptions, a private cinema and theatre,
and a rumpus room.
The fourth floor bears
the name Tu phuong vo su, meaning "cool and quiet with winds
coming from all directions". The architect envisioned this floor as a
relaxation space for the president and high officials, but Thieu
used it for evening balls. The palace’s rear yard served as a
helicopter pad, where a helicopter always stood ready for the
president. he basement was the nerve center of the puppet regime’s
war effort. The area comprised two underground trenches, connected
to each other via small tunnels of reinforced concrete, safe from
bombing or shelling. The upper tunnel - 1m below the surface, built
of steel and concrete 60cm thick and covered with 5mm steel sheets -
could withstand 500kg bombs. In this tunnel was an operations room
and a reserve radio station with modern US equipment. Here, Thieu
broadcast statements to rally his troops, and repealed the
cease-fire made during Tet 1968, when the Liberation Army launched
attacks on all the key infrastructure of the puppet regime in Sai
Gon.
After reunification:
In 1976, the Vietnamese
Government labeled the Reunification Palace as a historic cultural
relic. Every day, the building welcomes visitors from Viet Nam and
abroad. Pupils and students, in particular, visit the palace to learn
more about the nation’s history and honor. It is also now used as a
government convention center, and as a guest house for the Party,
Government and HCM City People’s Committee to receive international
high-ranking guests or hold flagship conferences, workshops,
seminars or exhibitions.
The passage of time has
taken its toll on quite a few parts of the palace, and a large-scale
renovation project has been underway since 1999.
And in a historic
full-circle, the project managers have invited the original
architect Ngo Viet Thu and chief constructor Phan Van Dien to advise
them on preserving this significant historical monument for future
generations to admire.
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