The iconic Reunification Palace made its name in global history when in 1975 a tank belonging to the North Vietnamese Army crashed through its main gate – thus representing the end of the Vietnam War. This image is one of the most famed pictures depicting the Reunification Palace which has seen a rich and diverse history and once served as the base of the US-backed Vietnamese General Ngo Dinh Diem during the Vietnam War, until his assassination in 1963. The palace is like a time shell frozen in 1975 with two of the original tanks used in the capture of the palace parked in the grounds. Initially the site of the Nordom Palace also known as the Governor’s Palace its first role was as a home and workplace for the then French Governor of Cochinchina.