Ho Chi Minh Museum (Ben Nha Rong)

The Ho Chi Minh Museum, also called the Ben Nha Rong or Dragon House Wharf branch, stands at 1 Nguyen Tat Thanh in District 4 of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on the bank of the Saigon River. The building was completed in 1863 as the office of the French shipping company Messageries Maritimes and takes its popular name from the dragon figures that decorate its roof. On 5 June 1911 the young Nguyen Tat Thanh, then about 21 years old, left Vietnam from this wharf on the steamer Amiral Latouche-Treville, working as a kitchen assistant, and he spent roughly three decades abroad before returning. He later became known as Ho Chi Minh, and the building was converted into a memorial museum dedicated to his life after 1975. The architecture is a two-storey colonial structure that mixes European construction with Asian decorative elements, with a pair of stylised dragons on the roof ridge, a tiled roof and wooden-shuttered windows, set in a garden facing the river. Exhibitions inside present his life through photographs, documents, letters and personal objects, including items such as clothing, sandals and a hammock. A small collection explains the setting of Saigon port in the early 20th century. The curatorial approach is biographical and chronological, with panels in Vietnamese and some English, and relatively modest scale compared to larger city museums. The building has been restored on several occasions and the displays are generally well kept. The museum is a short walk from the Saigon River waterfront and can be paired with other District 4 and District 1 sights.