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Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

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Editor Pick

A Typical Communist Memorial

  • October 24, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by garymarsh6 from Gravesend, United Kingdom
A Typical Communist Memorial

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.

Who was Ho Chi Mein?


Ho Chi Minh was born in 1890 and originally named Nguyen Sinh Cung and at 10 years old his father renamed him Nguyen Tat Thanh in line with confusion tradition. In 1911 he left Vietnam for France and applied to become a student but he was rejected so became a waiter and cleaner. Any spare time he had was spent studying in the libraries in Paris. In 1912 he left France and headed for New York and spent a year there after which he moved to England and lived for several years here up to 1919.

From 1919 he then moved to France where he became involved in Communism and was a founding member of the French communist party. He then spent many years in Moscow China and other countries. He tried to persuade the Vietnamese Emperor to abdicate which he eventually did in 1945 there after he declared himself the leader of the Democratic republic of Vietnam. The Chinese soldiers who were fighting in the north finally left then Ho Chi Minh began fighting against the French eventually trying to call a truce and the withdrawal of France from Vietnam.

In 1954 after the Geneva accords Ho Chi Minh was able to set up a government and became President of Vietnam. He moved the capital from Saigon to Hanoi thereby causing a split in the country with the North being communist held and the South being led by President Ngo Dinh Diem. There was mass migration of people from the north heading south. Farmers where tortured and executed by the communists during the land reformation some people were not permitted to head south and were kept in the North.

Ho insisted that a war continued to reunite the country as a whole. The South received the support from the USA following the withdrawal of the French and started to land troops due to the high presence of Ho tried to negotiate a truce but it never came and because of the continued fighting the Americans were drawn into a long and nasty war against the North Vietnamese trying to protect the south from further invasion.


Ho Chi Minh was based in Hanoi and although he could have lived in the Presidential palace he chose to live in a traditional wooden house built on wooden stilts within the grounds of the Palace. There are two upstairs rooms one being a study and the other his bedroom. On the ground floor there was a conference room. Ho Chi Minh died here in this house on September 2nd 1969 in his bed of heart failure. It was 48 hours before his death was announced as they did not want to announce it on the anniversary of the founding of democratic republic of Vietnam. No one was named as his successor so the country was ruled by members of the army and politburo.


Ho Chi Minh’s memorial is based in the centre of Hanoi at the place where he read the decloration of independence in Ba Dinh Square in 1945. Work began on the construction in 1973 and was finished in 1975. The mausoleum is based on the Mausoleum of Lenin in Moscow. It is made of grey granite, and the inside is grey black and red polished stone. On top of the plinth at the top of the building are the words CHU TICH HO CHI MINH Translated as President Ho Chi Minh.

The building is 21.6 metres high and 41.2 metres wide with viewing platforms on either side of seven steps for watching parades. There is a massive plaza in front of the building and a road way.

Ho had left instructions in his will for his body to be cremated and his ashes scattered in the North, in the central hills and in South Vietnam but the government preserved his body which is on display in the mausoleum which is open daily from 09:00 AM to Noon. There is a military guard of honour with the soldiers dressed all in pristine white uniforms. And there are queues of people lining up to pay their respects to him at the mausoleum. He is lying in a glass case in the middle of the Mausoleum. There are very strict rules which have to be adhered to when visiting the mausoleum being no talking, no photographs or videotaping no mini skirts or shorts and you have to walk in pairs into and out of the mausoleum. Before you enter the museum you have to check your camera or video equipment in for safe keeping you are not allowed to take them in with you.

Walking into the mausoleum you can see quite Clearly Ho Chi minh in his glass coffin and it looks just like he is asleep. Although it is lit up inside the mausoleum it is still quite dark and somber. The guards are very strict when you enter the mausoleum and you are only in there for about a minute and certainly no longer than two minutes at the most. If you linger for too long the guards will push you along and I mean push no gentleness here I am afraid. They are also very strict about your hands they must be by your sides at all times. I saw some chap fold his arms and he was quickly shouted at by one of the guards. Fortunately the queue for us was short we were in and out within about 20 minutes. 18-19 minutes of queuing and 1-2 minutes from entering to exiting the mausoleum.

Behind the mausoleum there is a beautiful park and the walkway to the Mausoleum is very pleasantly lined with shrubs and box hedging. Admission to the mausoleum is free to everyone.

Would I recommend a visit? I would but only if you are in the area.

He is regarded as and called Uncle Ho by the people of Vietnam although many people regard him with hatred for sustaining such a long war. However up to the ending of the most recent Great War in 1975 Vietnam had been at war with some nation or another for 116 years.


The Vietnamese finally took control of Saigon in 1975 and the name of the city was changed in honour of Ho and is now officially known as Ho Chi Minh City.

From journal Vietnam a Fairly New Holiday Destination. Go before the Masses

Editor Pick

1 Minute with Dead, Cold Body: HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM

  • July 17, 2008
  • Rated 4 of 5 by bettybetty10 from Dallas, Texas
I had never seen a dead person on ice before so I HAD to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum! We walked over there, which took about 30 minutes. We also visited on a Saturday morning, and when we got there, the line was extremely long. We were worried because it was about 10am, and we knew that it closed at 11:30 for lunch.

We got in line, and as mentioned, there are tons of people waiting in line to see Uncle Ho – both Vietnamese and foreign tourists. The Vietnamese LOVE their Ho Chi Minh! There are many military personnel around to keep people in check and I made sure I followed orders accordingly.

Everyone has to go through security, primarily because no photographs are allowed. All cameras are confiscated and checked, and you can retrieve it after your visit. Also, everyone must dress conservatively (sleeves and long pants/skirt) and all hats must be removed. One woman was wearing a tank top and someone had to give her a long sleeved shirt to wear over it. One man put on his hat before leaving the complex and a guard asked him to remove it.

We waited in line about 45 minutes, but it wasn’t so bad because we got to look at the complex, the staff who worked there, and people watch in general. Also, we could commiserate with the other tourists who thought the wait was way too long.

Once we got in, we were required to walk in two lines up the stairs and into the mausoleum. There were guards stationed every few feet to physically push people along if they were slowing down to rubberneck, or if your hands were not completely down at your sides and in view. I was roughly manhandled twice because I was walking in the outside line and slowed down to get a better look at Ho Chi Minh. The entire walk through took about 1 minute.

The visit was much like waiting in line for rides at Disneyland – super long queue, but a really short time with Mr. Ho himself. It was a surreal experience and kind of weird, but something you definitely have to do.

From journal Quirky but Delicious Hanoi

Editor Pick

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Grays

  • April 4, 2008
  • Rated 5 of 5 by SeenThat from Tel Aviv, Israel
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Grays

"What’s this?" and "Where am I?" were my first reactions. The classical boxy building certainly did not belong to South East Asia. The orderly line of people awaiting the entrance could not possibly be the same serial killers driving and riding the "motos" at illegal speeds (and mostly on the wrong direction) around the congested city.

Communist Cemeteries

Visiting cemeteries is a worthwhile activity for intrepid travelers in many places; the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires is an excellent example of a cemetery transformed into an historic type of attraction. However, in certain places this has taken eerie dimensions.

Communist regimes did present themselves as atheists; they praised valueless societies, but never considered that the vacuum they created artificially would be filled by false idols. No other societies in human history made a point of embalming symbolic leaders and afterwards showing them off to the people as the Communist did.

They never tried to explain this weird – if not sinister – practice. The USSR had Lenin. In Beijing, Mao Zedong can still be appreciated. Hanoi still displays Ho Chi Minh. Nobody remembers why. The crowds are probably the same ones rushing afterwards home with a pirated copy of the last horror film. "The Body Snatchers IX" would its title probably be.

Unintended Symbol

Communism made a point of destroying ancestral customs and religions. It was a matter of historical justice that their tyrants were prey to their own medicine. Ho Chi Minh stated in his will and last testament that he wanted to be cremated and his ashes to be scattered across the country.

"The same way you didn’t respect your ancestral traditions, we are not respecting your will," is the subliminal message of the site.

The Shrine

The pseudo-temple can be visited during the mornings. A long queue awaits the visitor. At its end are booths were bags and cameras can be left; though my recommendation is not to bring them at all. Officially, the visit is free of charge, but the policemen taking away the bags request an unofficial fee; moreover, there is a serious risk the bags – especially pricey cameras and phones – would get lost. Modest clothing is required for entering the place.

The queue enters the mausoleum and surrounds the embalmed body by three sides before exiting through a different door. The corpse is separated from the crowd by a thick glass; the room is heavily refrigerated creating sharp contrast with the steamy streets of Hanoi. Strangely, the similar mausoleum in Beijing is heavily heated; however, in both cases the air within the glass is controlled so that the body is better preserved.

Ho Chi Minh lies on a platform, only his head and hands exposed; on a regular basis he is send to Moscow for maintenance procedures. The small, inert body is a live (dead?) metaphor regarding the impossibility for tyrants to win their fight against human rights. There he lies, his last will publicly violated. "You violated us, we violate you," the crowds are silently whispering.

On The Surrounding Grass

A line of conical hats floating over a field of electric green grass was the unusual sight waiting me outside the mausoleum; the women were tending the grass and provided the most human sight in the area.

Hope was in the air, their hats and culture would survive all vicissitudes.

From journal Hanoi: Red River Blues

Editor Pick

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex

  • October 24, 2003
  • Rated 3 of 5 by ShannonBrooke from Somerville, Massachusetts
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex

The Ho Chi Minh mausoleum grounds are quite large, and landscaped with gardens. In this area, you will find the Ho Chi Minh museum, the mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh's mansion, and Ho Chi Minh's house. You will find old historic pagodas, like the One-Pillar Pagoda. There are numerous vendors here hawking t-shirts and ice cream. It is simply a pleasant place to explore if you have an afternoon in Hanoi.

Unfortunately some parts of the complex are guarded and cordoned off, and it's hard to find your way around. For all of our searching, we never found Ho Chi Minh's house. Luckily, English signs helped us on our way to the One-Pillar Pagoda, a popular spot for Vietnamese to visit. The One-Pillar pagoda, built in the middle of a pond supported by a single pillar, is a beautiful site and we felt caught up in the joy of the other visitors.

Visiting the mauseleum is serious business. You must be appropriately dressed (no hats), and you must leave your camera at the entrance. With our expensive digital SLRs, we weren't going to take any chances and thus missed our chance to see an embalmed Uncle Ho. The architecture of the Mausoleum is quite startling, a square grey building rising incongruously from gorgeous green parkland.

From journal Asia Sampler: Hanoi Rocks

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum

  • October 7, 2001
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Heather F from Heywood, Australia
One of the most macabre and eerie experiences is visiting Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. The sight of the tiny, embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh with its rounded face topped with longish tufts of white hair and a small goatee beard below, entombed in glass, is almost spiritual. Aided by subtle lighting, complete silence and the regimentation of entering makes one aware of the high esteem in which this great man is held.

Leaving cameras behind, visitors (predominantly Vietnamese) must walk in single file across Ba Dinh Square to climb the red-carpeted stairs into the mausoleum.

From journal Hanoi Highlights

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