Reunification Palace

Five minutes' stroll through the parkland northwest of the Revolutionary Museum, a red flag billows proudly above the Reunification Palace (daily 7.30-11am & 1-4pm; $4 including guided tour; entrance on Nguyen Du), which occupies the site of a colonial mansion erected in 1871 to house the governor-general of Indochina. With the French departure in 1954, Ngo Dinh Diem commandeered this extravagent monument as his presidential palace, but after the February 1962 assassination attempt, the place had to be pulled down. The present building was labelled the Independence Palace in 1966, only to be retitled the Reunification Hall when the South fell in 1975. Spookily unchanged from its working days, much of the building's interior is a veritable time-capsule of Sixties and Seventies kitsch: pacing its airy rooms, it's as if you've strayed into the arch-criminal's lair in a James Bond movie. Most interesting is the third floor with its presidential library, projection room and entertainment lounge complete. The basement served as the former command centre and displays archaic radio equipment and vast wall maps.

Publishes at : 07-07-29 10:42

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