Hanoi (VNA) – Madam Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet, spouse of State President Luong Cuong, and Queen Mathilde of Belgium went on a tour of the President Ho Chi Minh Memorial Site within the Presidential Palace grounds in Hanoi on April 1 as part of the ongoing state visit to Vietnam by the Belgian royal couple.
The distinguished visitors were guided through the various buildings within the complex.
At Uncle Ho’s stilt house, the two ladies visited each room with artifacts connected to the late Vietnamese leader’s life. The stilt house served as President Ho Chi Minh’s summer residence and workplace as well as a venue for meetings with Politburo leaders, ministry and local officials, along with soldiers.
Queen Mathilde wrote on the site’s guestbook and joined First Lady Nguyet in feeding fish in Uncle Ho’s pond.
On the occasion, Madam Nguyet presented Queen Mathilde a painting of Uncle Ho’s stilt house.
The Ho Chi Minh Memorial Site represents one of Vietnam's most significant historical and cultural landmarks. This is the place where President Ho Chi Minh lived and worked during the final 15 years of his life, from December 1954 until September 2, 1969.
Spanning over 10 hectares, the complex features houses, courtyards, gardens, lawns, a fish pond, and walkways. The highlights of the site are House 54, Uncle Ho’s stilt house, and House 67.
President Ho Chi Minh lived and worked in the stilt house for around 11 years before he passed away in September 1969. Today, nearly 250 of his documents and the entire architecture and grounds of the house are preserved exactly as they were during the final days of his life.
The complex was among the first ten sites classified as special national relic sites./.
