When designing the Palace of Independence, Architect Ngo Viet Thu wanted to find a cultural meaning for the work, therefore every arrangement from the inside of the interior to the front face of the outside, all symbolized the traditional philosophy, the oriental rituals and national characters. Architect NgoViet Thu combined harmoniously the art of modern architecture and Oriental traditional architecture. The entire plane of the Palace form Chinese character GOOD (Ji) meaning good, lucky; the Center of the Palace is the position of the room for state letter presentation; the Terrace is “the safe floor of all directions” in the shape of character MOUTH (KOU) to highly value education and free speech. The shape of character Mouth has a vertical flag post in the middle to form character Fidelity (Zhong) appearing to remind that it must be fidel to have democracy. The horizontal stroke are created by the all direction upper veranda, the honourable balcony and the entry porch to the ante-chamber to form character Three (san). Under the conception that democracy is composed of “Humanity, Intelligence, Strength” meaning a prosperous country must consist of people who have three factors of Humanity, Intelligence, Strength. These three horizontal strokes are connected by a vertical stroke to form character King (Wang), above it has a flag tower to form a dot creating character Master (Zhu) which symbolizes national sovereignty. On the front of the palace, the entire balconies of 2nd and 3rd floors combine with the main entrance porch and two wood covered columns below the porch to create character Prosperity (Xing) meaning to wish the country eternal prosperity.

The architectural beauty of the Palace is even expressed by stone floral curtains in the form of elegant bamboo sections surrounding the 2nd floor. The stone floral curtains are transformed from doors of Hue ancient capital palace, they do not only increase the beauty of the Palace but also have the effect of catching sunlight.

Inside the Palace, all architectural features are made of directly traced straight lines, corridors, halls, rooms take the motto of “clear and straight forward” as their base.

The front yard of the Palace is a grass carpet in oval shape with a diameter of 102m. The deep green of the grass carpet immediately creates delicate, cheerful feelings for guests when they walk through the gate.

Running along the whole width of the great hall is a half moon shaped pond. In the pond lotus and water-lily are planted recalling images of quiet ponds in Vietnamese old temples and pagodas.

The Palace has an area of 120,000 sp.m (300 m x 400 m), limited by 4 main street which are:

• Nam Ky Khoi Nghia street on the North East (the main front of the Palace).
• Huyen Tran Cong Chua street on the South West (the back of the Place).
• Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street on the North West (left side of the Palace).
• Nguyen Du Street on the South East (right side of the Palace).

The Palace has four building area:

The main building area in ”T” shape has a surface area of 4,500 sq.m, 26 m in height, it is located at the Central position of the land area. This place had been the residence and working place of Saigon puppet Government President. This area has 03 storeys, 2 mezzanines, 1 terrace, 1 ground floor and 1 basement. The total usable area is 20,000 sq.m divided into 95 rooms. Each room has a separated function, construction and decoration are suitable to the purpose of use of each room. After 1975, some rooms of this main building area continue to be used, the remaining is for serving sight seeing tourists.

The 2 storey building area with 8 m x 20 m area on Nguyen Du Street side before 1975 was the working office of the Democratic Party. After 1975 it became the working place of the Directorial Board of the Unification Meeting Hall.

The 2 storey building area No.4 at the corner of Nguyen Du - Huyen Tran Cong Chua streets before 1975 was the building area for the Independence Palace protecting battalion. After 1975 it was the residential place of Company 1, Guard regiment 180. Presently this area has been reformed to be the guest house area of the Government Office.

The flat building area at the corner of Huyen Tran Cong Chua Nguyen Thi Minh Khai streets before 1975 was the daily activity area of the escort team of the flying crew for Nguyen Van Thieu, the garden tendering unit. Presently it has been reformed into a building area for noon break and the collective mesh-hall for the cadres and employees of the Unification Meeting Hall.

Besides the above building area, at the left corner of the Palace, on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street side there is an octagonal house of 4m in diameter, built on a high earth mound without surrounding walls, with its old curved rood, used as a place for fresh air and relaxation.

Mixed among the above 04 building area are fresh green grass yards, gardens of old trees, precious pots of ornamental plants and 04 tennis courts behind the main building area.

 

Good	Master	Prosperity
Mouth	Three	Fidelity