Ho Chi Minh City Museum

Children, do not confuse yourself. Hanoi has Ho Chi Minh Museum which was built to honor the late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh. Now, there’s also Ho Chi Minh City Museum located in District 1 of Saigon and that’s where we went.

The only museum I recall that I’ve been to prior this was the National Museum in Manila. I couldn’t remember the other museums I visited during our educational field trips in gradeschool. So when we arrived in Saigon, we didn’t waste our time and set foot in the old Ho Chi Minh City Museum. Old?

The building was constructed from 1885 to 1890 and was initially planned to be used for exhibits of Vietnam’s native specialties but it served as the governor’s palace. In 1945, the building became the headquarter of the Southern Provisional Administrative committee (the anti-communist faction of Vietnam).

Ho Chi Minh City Museum name changed from time to time depending on who or what was occupying it. Tran Van Huu Governor’s Palace and Quoc Khach Palace are just some of those. The palace was even used by leader Ngo Dinh Diem as their family residence when now-Reunification Palace was bombed in the year 1962. It also became Vietnam’s Supreme Court at one point.

HCMC Museum is already rich in history even without its contents. But when you enter the museum, you’ll learn a lot more about Vietnam’s largest city. Below are some of the exhibit and collections that can be found inside:

For foreigners, the entrance fee costs 15K Vietnamese Dong (VND) or $1 (USD) if you don’t have their currency. The Ho Chi Minh City Museum, which also caters to other activities like film conference and wedding photoshoot is open daily from 8AM to 5PM. The building is just a few meters away from the famous Ben Thanh Market.

This was a great addition to my soon-list of visited museums.