Reunification Palace

Architecturally looking modern, yet the Reunification Palace has experienced historical changes over its time course and today becomes one of the most fascinating site to see in Saigon. In 1868, the Norodom Palace was built on this site as a residence for the Cochinchina's General Governor. After the French departed, the palace was handed over the Saigon Government and became home of South Vietnamese  presidents. In 1962, two pilots of Saigon Air Forces bombed down part of the palace, and in the same year a new mansion was built on the existing site with a larger scale, the new building was named the Independence Palace. Since 1975, it has been once more renamed the Reunification Palace. The palace covers an area of 2,000 sq.m and consists of 5 storeys with 100 rooms and chambers decorated with finest modern Vietnamese art and craft. Perhaps most interesting of all is the basement with its network of tunnels, telecommunications centre and war room.