Bắc Bộ Phủ

Bắc Bộ Phủ stands in Hanoi as a historical landmark and State Guest House for the Vietnamese government. French colonial lines shape the building’s formal façade.

Auguste Henri Vildieu designed it between 1918 and 1919 as the residential palace of Tonkin’s French governor. Its rooms later became the Tonkin Palace, linking the building to the Viet Minh’s 1945 takeover of northern Vietnam.

French forces fought to reclaim the palace in December 1946, during the opening phase of the First Indochina War. The building then became North Vietnam’s state guest house after the country’s partition. Its government reception rooms still connect Hanoi’s colonial architecture with the city’s twentieth-century political history.

City: Hà Nội
Content updated: 2026-06-22

Image: Clay Gilliland CC BY-SA 2.0
Image: Xcanbiet (talk) (Uploads)., Xcanbiet at English Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
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Image: Pierre DieulefilsPublic domain
Image: Vũ Năng AnPublic domain

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