Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum...
6am Flag raising ceremony. His tomb stands in the historic Ba Dinh Square which was the scene of fighting against the
French and the Japanese and the place where Ho Chi Minh himself read out the Declaration of Independence in 1945.
In the tradition of Lenin, Stalin and Mao, Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is a monumental
marble edifice. Contrary to his desire for a simple cremation, the mausoleum was constructed from materials gathered from all over Vietnam between 1973 and 1975. Set deep in the bowels of the building in a glass sarcophagus is the frail, pale body of Ho Chi
Minh. The mausoleum is closed for about two months each year while his embalmed body goes to Russia for maintenance.