Originally the French governor's palace, then Norodom Palace, then Independence Palace, the magnificent original French building was knocked down to make way for Reunification Palace, which was built on the same site between 1962 -66. It is today a famous landmark in Ho Chi Minh City and a popular museum and tourist attraction. The present building was designed by architect Ngo Viet Thu and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the US-Vietnam War. It was famously the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese army tank crashed through its gates and a soldier triumphantly hoisted a National Liberation Front flag on its roof.