Lê Văn Tám Park
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Le Van Tam Park (
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...
: ''Công viên Lê Văn Tám''), previously known as Mạc Đĩnh Chi Cemetery, is a park in
Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
,
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
. It formerly was a large and prestigious
French colonial French colonial architecture includes several styles of architecture used by the French during colonization. French colonial architecture has a long history, beginning in North America in 1604 and being most active in the Western Hemisphere (Car ...
cemetery in
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...
, located near the
US Embassy, Saigon The United States Embassy in Saigon was first established in June 1952, and moved into a new building in 1967 and eventually closed in 1975. The embassy was the scene of a number of significant events of the Vietnam War, most notably the Viet C ...
(now the
Consulate General of the United States, Ho Chi Minh City The Consulate General of the United States of America, Ho Chi Minh City represents the interests of the United States government in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon), Vietnam. The consulate reports to the ambassador at the U.S. Embassy ...
). The cemetery had a wooded, bucolic setting, surrounded by a tall concrete wall, with a gated entrance on Hai Ba Trung Street. It originated as the burial ground for those killed during the 1859 battle for the Gia Dinh Citadel. The cemetery was built by the French and had a European style confined within a quiet environment, giving it an air of simplicity, eeriness, and majesty. Small winding roads, lined with eucalyptus trees interspersed with straight roads, gave access to all corners of the cemetery. Eight-foot, bone white concrete walls enclosed it all around and gave it an air of isolation and solemnity in the middle of the noisy neighborhood. There were magnificent mausoleums, eight to ten feet high and six to eight feet wide, erected by bereaved families to commemorate their deceased. Others were simple tombstones, but no less impressive, with a block of stone marking the gallant deeds of the beloved person. It was by far the largest, cleanest and best-kept cemetery in Saigon. Burial there was reserved for French governors and colonial officials, high-ranking Vietnamese politicians, generals, former war heroes, celebrities and prominent members of the South Vietnamese society. In 1955 it was named Mac Dinh Chi, after the renowned ancient Vietnamese scholar and diplomat
Mạc Đĩnh Chi Mạc Đĩnh Chi (; 1272–1346) was a renowned Vietnamese Confucian scholar who was the highest-scoring graduate in the palace examinations at the age of only twenty-four. He served three Trần dynasty emperors—first Trần Anh Tông until ...
(1280–1350). South Vietnamese President
Ngo Dinh Diem Ngô Đình Diệm ( , or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955) and later the first president of South Vietnam (Republic of V ...
and his brother
Ngo Dinh Nhu A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
were interred there in unmarked graves following their
assassinations Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...
.Tet and remembrance of the dead
International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its ...
, February 28, 2005
The famous French correspondent for
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and
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magazines
François Sully :''Note'': The "François Sully" credited in '' The Foreman Went to France'' (1942) was British character actor Francis L. Sullivan. François Sully (1927–1971) was a French journalist and photographer best known for his work during the Vietnam ...
and the American missionary
Grace Cadman William Cadman (4 April 1883 in Rotherhithe – 7 December 1948 in Da Lat) was an English missionary in Vietnam with his American wife Grace. William and his team printed the Bible in Hanoi, and his wife Grace was the primary translator of the Bi ...
were also buried there. In the early 1980s, Vietnam's communist government declared the cemetery a corrupt reminder of the past. In 1983 the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee passed a resolution to abolish the cemetery, and ordered all remains to be exhumed and removed. Family members were given two months to claim their loved ones. Then the mausoleums and tombstones were bulldozed to the ground to create a children's park and playground.Vietnamese Also Extending The Search for Their M.I.A.'s
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
, May 20, 1994
In The Age of Globalization, Even the Dead Travel
/ref>


See also

*
Bình Hưng Hòa Cemetery Binh Hung Hoa Cemetery () was formerly the largest cemetery in the urban area of Ho Chi Minh City. It was located in the suburban outskirts of the city but due to the rapid urbanization of Ho Chi Minh City, the urban area eventually eclipsed the c ...
* :Burials at Mac Dinh Chi Cemetery


References


Further reading

* Tin Bui, Judy Stowe, Do Van, Carlyle A. Thayer. ''Following Ho Chi Minh: The Memoirs of a North Vietnamese Colonel''. University of Hawaii Press, 1995 * David Lan Pham. ''Two hamlets in Nam Bo: memoirs of life in Vietnam through Japanese occupation, the French and American wars, and communist rule, 1940–1986''. McFarland, 2000 * Arthur J. Dommen. ''The Indochinese experience of the French and the Americans: nationalism and communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam''. Indiana University Press, 2001


External links

* {{Find a Grave cemetery Cemeteries in Vietnam French cemeteries Former cemeteries Parks in Ho Chi Minh City