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Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum

Hanoi, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Guards at entrance

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Vietnam // Hanoi Vietnam· Southeast Asia Location: [post_gps_latitude], [post_gps_longitude]

Even Uncle Ho needs a holiday. Mind you, and as much as I like the place, I can think of more picturesque places than Moscow as that city heads into winter. Each year, in October and November, Ho Chi Minh, not exactly under his own steam, ventures to Moscow for some TLC, getting spruced up by the Russian team responsible for preserving Vladimir Lenin’s youthful glow.

When Lenin died in 1924, it started a trend in Soviet-bloc and some Communist countries for embalming their great leaders and putting them on public display. It was, of course, so that grateful and grieving members of public could pay their respects. Lenin, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, Kim Il-sung, and Mao Zedong all received that treatment–although in the anti-Stalin wave in the mid-1950s, Stalin was removed from display and buried next to the Kremlin wall just outside Lenin’s Mausoleum in Red Square. Recently departed North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will apparently be joining them, with Pyongyang announcing plans to embalm his body in a mausoleum complex yet to be constructed in the North Korean capital.1

Ho famously decreed that he should receive no special post-mortem tributes, that he should be cremated and that his ashes should be scattered in the Vietnamese countryside so that he could fertilize the agricultural land. The Vietnamese government respectfully disagreed. Four years after his death, they began construction of this massive marble crypt to house Ho’s embalmed body for public display. It stands on the spot where Ho had read the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence on September 2, 1945, and when it opened in 1975, it became hallowed ground.

Apparently oblivious to the ceremonial similarities they share with the honor guards of royal households, goose-stepping Vietnamese soldiers in white dress uniforms stand watch over the entrance, switching out every hour–even when Ho’s away for his annual holiday. Each guard’s personal history has been carefully vetted to ensure that there’s no past blemish on their record (or that of their family’s) that might disqualify them from the special honor of standing guard here. Tourists are welcome to observe the ceremony, but whatever you do, don’t walk on the grass or cross the yellow line. And absolutely, positively don’t try to take photos inside.

Photos of Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Side Angle

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Guards Marching

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Ba Dinh Square

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum with Vietnamese Flag

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Top of Building

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Building

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Changing of the Guard Ceremony

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Front View

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Goose Stepping Guards

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Guards

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Changing of the Guard

Photo by David Coleman. How to license & download this image.

What To Know Before You Go

The military guards take their charge seriously.


  1. Choe Sang-Hun, “Kim Jong-il to Go on Permanent Display,” New York Times, 13 January 2012, A7. ↩

Where to Next?

  • Ho Chi Minh City Hall in Saigon at Night
    Ho Chi Minh City Hall
  • Reunification Palace Tank Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
    Ho Chi Minh City's Reunification Palace
  • Photo of Cu Chi Tunnels Tourists in Tunnel Hole
    Cu Chi Tunnels
  • Jade Emperor Pagoda Ho Chi Minh City Shrine with Incense
    Jade Emperor Pagoda
  • Vietnam Military History Museum Tank Exhibit
    Hanoi's Vietnam Military History Museum
  • hue 02 copyright havecamerawilltravel com - Vietnam's Perfume River
    Vietnam's Perfume River
  • Imperial City Hue Vietnam Ngo Mon Gate and Bridge
    The Citadel in the Imperial City of Hue
  • Photo of Shells on display at War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
    Vietnam's War Remnants Museum
  • Tran Quoc Pagoda Hanoi Monk Praying
    Hanoi's Oldest Pagoda


Travel Advice for Vietnam

You can find the latest U.S. Department of State travel advisories and information for Vietnam (such as entry visa requirements and vaccination requirements) here.

The British and Australian governments offer their own country-specific travel information. You can find the British Government's travel advice for Vietnam here and the Australian Government's here.

Health & Vaccinations

The CDC makes country-specific recommendations for vaccinations and health for travelers. You can find their latest information for Vietnam here.

David Coleman Photography

I take photos. I travel. I write. I do it for a living. Seven continents. Dozens of countries. Up mountains. Under water. And a bunch of places in between. You can find my main site at havecamerawilltravel.com. Or check out what’s in my go-to travel photography kit. Or get in touch here.


Location: Hanoi
Country: Vietnam
Coordinates:
      Latitude: 21.036806
      Longitude: 105.834676

      # Hanoi Vietnam
      # Southeast Asia



About David Coleman

I take photos. I travel. I write. I do it for a living.

I’m based in Washington, DC.

You can find my photography gear reviews and tips at havecamerawilltravel.com/photographer.

David Coleman Photography

I take photos. I travel. I write. I do it for a living. Seven continents. Dozens of countries. Up mountains. Under water. And a bunch of places in between. You can find my main site at havecamerawilltravel.com. Or check out what’s in my go-to travel photography kit. Or get in touch here.

Licensing & Prints

Looking for travel stock photos or prints? I might be able to help. You can search my collection here:

If you already have a buyer account with Alamy and would prefer to use that, you can search my images directly here.

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Photos by David Coleman. Please contact me for licensing images.
All images are registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.


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