Museum of Ho Chi Minh
- Name: Bến Nhà Rồng Bảo Tàng Hồ Chí Minh
- Address: 1 Nguyễn Tất Thành, District 4 [MAP]
- Open: 7.30-11.30am & 13.30-17.00pm daily
- Ticket: 10,000vnđ
Situated on Nguyễn Tất Thành street – one of several aliases by which Hồ Chí Minh (also an alias) was known by – this museum occupies the handsome, pink-painted French colonial edifice at the confluence of the Saigon River and the Bến Nghé Channel, constructed in 1862 as the city port’s customs house. In June, 1911, a 21-year-old Hồ Chí Minh set sail from this very building, onboard the Amiral de Latouche-Tréville, working as an assistant to the ship’s cook. He travelled the world for three decades, not returning to his native Vietnam until 1941, when he re-entered via the remote northern border, at Pác Bó Cave. It’s worth strolling around the outside of the building and its gardens which look across the river to the city’s increasingly impressive skyline. A colossal gold statue of a young Hồ Chí Minh (named Nguyễn Tất Thành) presides over the gardens, looking towards the high-rises of his namesake’s city. Inside, the first floor consists of several rooms that function more as shrines than exhibitions. Statues and busts of uncle Ho at various stages of his life adorn walls, altars and plinths. There are also photographs and paintings of Ho and other pivotal figures from the revolution, above which hang famous Ho quotes. A map charts Ho’s extensive voyages after leaving this building in 1911 – it is quite astonishing how widely he travelled. Another exhibit makes the point that, before he left, Ho travelled the length of Vietnam, as did members of his close family, and thus had an attachment to, and experience of, the entire nation, not just his quê hương – ‘hometown’. Upstairs are five rooms, each focusing on a specific period of Ho’s life, from his birth in 1890 to his death in 1969. The majority of exhibits are black-and-white photographs; some are engaging, others are not. Most of the images of Ho portray an intelligent, determined, sophisticated but down-to-earth man, who appears to have been just as comfortable in a conference room with foreign diplomats and world leaders as he was in a rice field with local farmers and children.
