The Presidential Palace of

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 ...

(), located in the city of

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

, currently is the official residence of the president of Vietnam and the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

of the presidential office. Before 1954, it was named the Palace of the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

(, ).

History

The palace was built between 1900 and 1906 to house the French governor-general of

and was constructed by the architect Charles Lichtenfelder, this is often incorrectly attributed to Auguste Henri Vildieu, who was the official French architect for

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

. Like most French colonial architecture, the palace is pointedly European. The only visual cues that it is located in Vietnam at all are

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

trees growing on the grounds. The

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

palace stands behind

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

gates flanked by

sentry box A sentry box is a small shelter (building), shelter with an open front in which a Picket (military), sentry or person on Security guard, guard duty may stand to be sheltered from the weather. Many boxes are decorated in national colours. Compare: ...

es. It incorporates elements of

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

design, including: * aedicules *a formal piano nobile reached by a grand staircase * broken pediments *classical columns *

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...

When Vietnam achieved independence in 1954,

Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...

was claimed to have refused to live in the grand structure for symbolic reasons, although he still received

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

guests there; he eventually built a traditional Vietnamese

stilt house Stilt houses (also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings) are houses raised on Stilts (architecture), stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding; they als ...

and

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

pond on the grounds. His house and the grounds were made into the Presidential Palace Historical Site in 1975. The palace hosts government meetings. Although the palace itself is not open to the public, one may walk around the grounds for a fee. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is located near the palace. On February 27, 2019,

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

officially met Kim Jong-un for the second time in Hanoi's Presidential Palace.

Gallery

File:Wohngebäude beim Präsidenten Palast Hanoi Vietnam.JPG, House No. 54, where President

lived and worked from 1954 to 1958 File:Presidential House Hanoi 2803356508 5221a7a0da.jpg, Carp pond on the grounds of the palace File:Prezidentský palác, Hanoj.jpg, Presidential Palace File:Dinning room of Ho Chi Minh's house attached to the Presidential Palace, Hanoi 12-2010.JPG, Dining room of Ho Chi Minh's house attached to the Presidential Palace File:Bedroom of Ho Chi Minh's house attached to the Presidential Palace, Hanoi 12-2010.JPG, Bedroom of Ho Chi Minh's house attached to the Presidential Palace File:Ho-chi-Minh with children (7).jpg, President Ho Chi Minh with children File:KITLV A220 - Galafeest in oud Hollandse klederdracht in het presidentiële paleis van Hanoi in Indochina, KITLV 79440.tiff, Festival in the Governor's palace in 1930 File:KITLV A220 - Ontvangst van de gouverneur-generaal A.C.D. de Graeff (links) bij het presidentiële paleis van Hanoi in Indochina, KITLV 85358.tiff, Welcome ceremony for Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff. .

History

Gallery

See also

Notes

Further reading