The President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, affectionately known as Uncle Ho’s Mausoleum, is the resting place of Vietnamese revolutionary leader and President Ho Chi Minh. This is one of the first places most tourists, both Vietnamese and foreign, want to visit during their trip to Hanoi. This article provides information about the mausoleum and other details to note before visiting.
Overview of the President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
The President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is located at 1 Hung Vuong, Ba Dinh Ward, Hanoi. The construction of the mausoleum began on September 2, 1973, at the site where he read the Declaration of Independence, which gave birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on 2 September 1945. On August 29, 1975, the Mausoleum was officially inaugurated.
The project is a place to preserve President Ho Chi Minh’s remains in accordance with the wishes and sentiments of the Party Central Committee and most of the Vietnamese people. Many generations have come to visit and express their gratitude to the President, the beloved father, who was determined to follow the revolutionary path and build a peaceful, unified, independent, and democratic country.
Opening hours:
The mausoleum is open every morning of the week, except Monday and Friday. If holidays such as the first day of Tet (Lunar New Year), National Day, Ho Chi Minh’s birthday, etc. fall on Monday or Friday, the mausoleum is still open as usual.
- Winter (November 1 – March 31): weekdays from 08:00 – 11:00; Saturday/Sunday/Holiday from 08:00 – 11:30.
- Summer (April 1 to October 31): weekdays from 07:30 – 10:30; Saturday/Sunday/Holiday from 07:30 – 11:00.
Entrance fee:
- Vietnamese citizens: free to visit Uncle Ho’s Mausoleum.
- For foreigners: the entrance fee to the Ho Chi Minh Museum or the stilt house is 25,000 VND/person/site.
Regulations for visiting the President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
When visiting the President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, all visitors must strictly follow the regulations:
- Visitors must have a serious attitude, dress neatly, cleanly, and tidily.
- Visitors must check their luggage and go through the security checkpoint. Visitors are allowed to bring a handbag containing money, precious metals, phones, and small cameras, all of which must be turned off. Specialized cameras and cameras are not allowed.
- On the way to visit, visitors must follow the instructions of the Organizing Committee, not jostle or push.
- Hold your hats in your right hand, with the inside of the hat facing outward as you enter the Mausoleum.
- After entering the Mausoleum, do not make noise, do not point, touch the wall, do not put your hands in your pants or shirt pockets, and do not smoke.
- It is forbidden to film, take photos, or draw the room where President Ho Chi Minh’s body is placed in the Mausoleum and post these images on the mass media.
Architecture of President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
The overall architecture of the Mausoleum is a solid square block, consisting of 3 layers. The mausoleum is 21.6m high and 41.2m wide. The structure of the Mausoleum is specially designed to withstand floods, bombs, and earthquakes of magnitude 7 on the Richter scale. The exterior of the Mausoleum is covered with gray granite, surrounded by rows of marble columns, with the words “CHỦ TỊCH HỒ – CHÍ – MINH (President HO – CHI – MINH) in deep red jade standing out on the top of the Mausoleum.
There are always 2 guards standing guard in front of the Mausoleum, changing shifts every hour. The lobby of the Mausoleum is covered with pink-veined marble, providing a backdrop for the inscription “Độc lập, Tự do” (meaning “Independence, Freedom”) and the President’s signature, inlaid in gold.
The Mausoleum currently has 200 doors made from various types of precious wood collected from across the country. The lawn in front of the mausoleum covers 18,000 m² of ginger grass, a native grass in southern Vietnam.
In the middle of the mausoleum is the room where the President’s body is preserved, lined with marble. His body is placed in a glass box, on a bed placed on a stone pedestal, and always guarded by soldiers.
On both sides of the main door are 2 frangipani trees. In front and behind the mausoleum are planted 79 cycads symbolizing President Ho Chi Minh’s age of 79.
Journey to visit Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum
To be able to see all the unique features in this area, you will visit each area in order from Ba Dinh Square, the President Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, to his stilt house, fish pond, then visit Ho Chi Minh museum, and finally One Pillar Pagoda.
Ba Dinh Square
Ba Dinh Square, the largest square in Vietnam, is located in front of President Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. Ba Dinh Square has a large campus with many large grassy plots; between the plots is a 1.4 m-wide path. In the middle of the square is the national flagpole.
This is where the flag-raising ceremony takes place at 6:00 – 6:30 in the morning, and the flag-lowering ceremony takes place at 21:00 pm every day.
This is where rallies and major historical celebrations of the country often take place. Through many historical ups and downs, Ba Dinh Square has become the pride of the capital’s people, a destination every tourist wants to visit.
Presidential Palace
The Presidential Palace was built in the classical French style. Initially, the building was built for the Governor General of Indochina. When the French colonialists withdrew from Vietnam in 1954, President Ho Chi Minh worked here until his death in 1969.
Currently, the Presidential Palace is used only to welcome officials and host state events. The Palace grounds are planted with many trees; today, there are still many large ancient trees. Inside the Presidential Palace, public access is limited.
Visiting President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
Before entering the mausoleum, you need to line up neatly and follow the crowd. Usually, on holidays or in the summer, visitors to the mausoleum are very crowded and bustling.
When entering the mausoleum, just follow the signs and the crowd in front; it is very easy to visit. Visitors are allowed to walk around the mausoleum at all times.
Uncle Ho’s Stilt House
With his inherent simplicity, President Ho Chi Minh did not live in a luxurious palace but lived in a simple stilt house. Currently, this place still preserves the artifacts from his lifetime intact. Uncle Ho’s stilt house is made of wood, with a 2-story structure typical of the Tay-Thai ethnic stilt house in Viet Bac.
The house was built according to Uncle Ho’s wishes, discussed with architect Nguyen Van Ninh, which same as the one in Viet Bac (where he lived during the war against the French colonial empire), with a spacious first floor, two rooms on the second floor, a partition between the two rooms used as a bookshelf, and a corridor around.
The stilt house is associated with many important events in the country, so it is both an architectural and a cultural heritage and holds great spiritual value.
In front of the stilt house is a fish pond, where Uncle Ho often fed the fish and relaxed. Every year, on holidays, he reminded the waiters to catch fish for the leaders or the guards. Domestic and international delegations were often invited by Uncle to eat delicious dishes that he “produced himself”.
Ho Chi Minh Museum
When visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, don’t forget to visit the Ho Chi Minh Museum. This is where artifacts and documents about the life and personality of the great President Ho Chi Minh are kept.
One Pillar Pagoda
In the grounds of the Bac Lang relic site, there is also the One Pillar Pagoda – a pagoda dating back to the Ly Dynasty, and has become one of the symbols of the capital Hanoi. The pagoda has a unique architecture with a single pillar resembling the capital’s thousand-year-old lotus.
With the above information, we hope you have a better understanding and are better prepared for your visit to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. If you have the opportunity to visit Hanoi, do not forget to visit the President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.
Source: collected by An
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