Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex

6. Ho Chi Minh’s Stilt House
Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House in Hanoi
After living in House No.54 for four years, President Ho moved to this stilt house. This house was designed similar to the stilt houses often seen in Northern mountainous areas, which was to remind him of the arduous days preparing for the Revolution. The house has two floors, the lower one is meeting area while the upper one has a bedroom, a study room and a bookshelf.

Walking around, visitors can feel Uncle Ho’s simple and pure lifestyle as there are a lot of trees from various places of Vietnam. There are also fish ponds which raise anabas and golden carps. As rumours go, whenever feeding the fishes (always at the same time), Uncle Ho clapped his hands and therefore the fish quickly learned the habit of hearing the sound and coming up on the surface, even long after his death.

One Pillar Pagoda

The pagoda was built in 1049, under the reign of King Ly Thai Tong. It was a harmonious combination of a pagoda (used to be called Dien Huu – long lasting happiness) and a tower (Lien Hoa – lotus flower) built in the middle of a square lotus lake.

This pagoda resembles a lotus blossoming from the pond. One Pillar Pagoda had its special appearance thanks to a dream of King Ly Thanh Tong, as rumours go. Legend said that: “In the 11th century, King Ly Thai To was very old but still had no son. Thus, he went to pagodas and pagodas to pray for Buddha’s blessing so that he may get one. Until one day, he had a strange dream, in which he met Goddess of Mercy, who was sitting on a lotus flower and gave him an intelligent son. Short time later, the queen gave birth to a nice prince. To repay to Goddess of Mercy, the King decided to construct a pagoda in the shape of a lotus flower, which was supported by merely one pillar.

However, regrettably, the Pagoda being in Hanoi now is not the original one. On September 11th, 1954, the Original One Pillar Pagoda was destroyed and mined by French soldiers. After the Independence Day, Uncle Ho required to rebuild it based on its original structure and completed in 1955. The nowadays One Pillar Pagoda is considered to be much smaller than the original one.Read more