Day 03: 22 April 2013
Explore War Remnants Museum, Notre-Dame Basilica, Central Post Office and the Reunification Palace
On our third day in Vietnam, we visited the War Remnants Museum.
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| War Remnants Museum |
For the past two days, we were so happy and excited of the different places that we explored. Seeing the War Remnants Museum had completely melted my heart. For me, this is the saddest part our travel.
The museum is operated by the Vietnamese government, according to Wikipedia, an incipient form of museum opened on September 4, 1975, as the "Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes" (Vietnamese: Nhà trưng bày tội ác Mỹ-ngụy), located in the premises of the former United States Information Agency building.
The exhibition was not the first of its kind for the North Vietnamese side, but rather followed a tradition of such exhibitions exposing "war crimes", first those of the French and then those of the Americans, who had operated at various locations of the country as early as 1954.
In 1990, the name changed to Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression (Nhà trưng bày tội ác chiến tranh xâm lược), dropping both "U.S." and "Puppet." In 1995, following the normalization of diplomatic relations with the United States and end of the US embargo from a year before, the references to "war crimes" and "aggression" were dropped from the museum's title as well; it became the "War Remnants Museum" (Bảo tàng Chứng tích chiến tranh).
This museum reminded me of the same war museum in the Philippines at Corregidor. A foreign lady, a tourist, was shedding her tears while looking at the photographs and reading the captions.
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| A Child Left Squatting on the Battle Ground |
A picture of an abandoned child squatting at the ground left by his parents when they evacuated the place with the fear of getting executed by the inbound infantries of the United States.
I was thinking what could have happened to the child...
Although there are some books saying that the museum is entirely one-sided (on the side of North Vietnamese), one thing is very clear, war is hell !!
From the the museum, we traveled within the city to see the Cathedral.
I was so happy to see a Catholic church in Vietnam, particularly in Ho Chi Minh. As a believer, I felt safer being around and inside the church.
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| Basilica of Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception |
I love the Gothic and Roman-style architecture of the church. Officially, the church name is "Basilica of Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception."
The church, I must say, is a favorite place for taking pictures specially for those who are getting settled whether they are Catholics or not.
The vicinity of the church is much like those in the Philippines, there were few vendors of Rosaries and other religious objects.
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| Vendors Outside the Basilica |
I enjoyed so very much being inside the church and taking few shots with my camera.
According to Wikipedia, Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica (Vietnamese: Vương cung thánh đường Đức Bà Sài Gòn or Nhà thờ Đức Bà Sài Gòn, French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Saïgon), officially Basilica of Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception (Vietnamese: Vương cung thánh đường Chính tòa Đức Mẹ Vô nhiễm Nguyên tội) is a cathedral located in the downtown of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Established by French colonists, the cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880. It has two bell towers, reaching a height of 58 meters (190 feet).
All the original building materials were imported from France. Tiles have been carved with the words Guichard Carvin, Marseille St André France (perhaps stating the locality where the tiles were produced). Some tiles are carved with the words "Wang-Tai Saigon". Many tiles have since been made in Ho Chi Minh City to replace the tiles that were damaged by the war. There are 56 glass squares supplied by the Lorin firm of Chartres province in France. The cathedral foundation was designed to bear ten times the weight of the cathedral.
After exploring the Cathedral, the Central Post Office, that sits just beside the Cathedral caught our attention. It looks so European in style and architecture.
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| Central Post Office |
We went inside the Post Office and explore the interior and other things that can be seen inside the building.
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| Post Office Interior |
According to Wikpedia, Saigon Central Post Office (Vietnamese: Bưu điện Trung tâm Sài Gòn, French: Poste centrale de Saïgon) is a post office in the downtown Ho Chi Minh City, near Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, the city's main church. The building was constructed when Vietnam was part of French Indochina in the early 20th century. It has a neoclassical architectural style. It was designed and constructed by the famous architect Gustave Eiffel in harmony with the surrounding area. Today, the building is a tourist attraction.
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| Old Telephone Booths |
Inside the Saigon Central Post office of special note are two painted maps that were created just after the post office was first built, the first one located on the left side of the building is a map of Southern Vietnam and Cambodia titled ‘Lignes telegraphiques du Sud Vietnam et Cambodge 1892′ which translates to ‘Telegraphic lines of Southern Vietnam and Cambodia 1892” The second map of greater Saigon is titled ‘Saigon et ses environs 1892′ translating to ‘Sai Gon and its environment 1892. It was constructed between 1886-1891
One of the highlights of our visit to Vietnam is to see the Reunification palace. This is the equivalent of our Palacio de Malacañáng.
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| Reunification Palace |
According to our guide, construction of the first Palace took place during the colonial period in Vietnam - during the invasion of France.
The first palace was named after the King of Cambodia - Norodom, hence Norodom Palace.
During the World War II, Japan defeated the French in Vietnam and the Norodom Palace became the Japanese headquarter in Vietnam.
After the defeat of Japan in 1945, France returned to Vietnam and restored the Norodom Palace.
The destruction of the Norodom Palace, according to our guide, happened during the Vietnam war sometime in 1962, when two pilots rebelled, flew two bomber jets and bombed the Palace and it was almost completely destroyed.
Since the damage of the bombing on the structure of Norodom Palace was so severe, it was ordered for demolition and the construction of the present building started on July 01, 1962 following the design from a Vietnamese famous architect Ngo Viet Thu.
According to the historians in Vietnam, the present Palace was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.
I was amazed by the design of the interior of the Palace. It has four (4) flours. The prominent rooms include the President's Office in the Hall, The Old War room Underneath the Palace, Roof of Reunification Palace and the Banquet Chamber in the Independence Hall.
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