ba dinh square

ba dinh square 11.20.09

city form: public space

Ba Dinh Square is where Ho Chi Minh read Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence from the French on September 2, 1945. Now the site is a tribute to the dead leader comprised of several buildings and outdoor public spaces, including the Ho Chi Minh Museum, his Mausoleum, and the Presidential Palace, in which he declined to reside, preferring instead to build a simpler structure elsewhere on the property for living and working.

Ho Chi Minh is still regarded by the Vietnamese people with almost god-like status, even though the government abandoned most of his economic policies in the mid-1980s. He is still referred to as "Uncle Ho" or just "Uncle" (Bac).