Saigon Governor’s Palace

The Saigon Governor’s Palace (French: Palais du Gouverneur, Saigon), later named the Norodom Palace and then the Independence Palace, was a government building in Saigon, French Cochinchina, built between 1868 and 1873. It contained the residence of the Governor of Cochinchina, administrative offices, reception rooms and ballrooms. The imposing and very expensive neo-Baroque building was intended to impress the people of Saigon with the power and wealth of the French. In 1887 the main seat of government in French Indochina was moved to Hanoi, and soon after the Lieutenant Governor of Cochinchina moved to a new, less pretentious mansion. The building continued to be used for ceremonial purposes, and became the residence of the President of South Vietnam in 1954. It was bombed and badly damaged during an attempted coup in 1962, torn down and replaced by the present Independence Palace.