Mê Linh Square

Prior to the square's original layout in 1863, its site was the junction of the quayside street and a historic road of Saigon that once ran through the old citadel (the {{lang|vi|Thành Quy}}). According to scholar Vuong Hong Sen, the wharf opposite of the square was where the French naval ships anchored to capture Saigon in 1859.{{Cite book |last=Vương |first=Hồng Sển |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18UzAAAAIAAJ |title=Sài Gòn năm xưa |publisher=Nhà sách Khai Trí |year=1969 |language=vi |access-date=2023-10-30 |archive-date=2023-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103071830/https://books.google.com/books?id=18UzAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}{{rp|60,73}}

Initially known as the "Rond-point", the square was planned to serve as a central point for the European city that was going to be built.{{Cite book |last=Baudrit |first=André |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRQOAQAAIAAJ |title=Guide historique des rues de Saigon |publisher=S.I.L.I. |year=1943 |publication-place=Saigon |access-date=2023-10-30 |archive-date=2023-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103071831/https://books.google.com/books?id=GRQOAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}{{rp|497}} By 1871, four other streets radiating from the square: rue Vannier, rue Turc, rue de Thu-Dau-Mot and rue de Yokohama (modern-day Ngô Đức Kế, Hồ Huấn Nghiệp, Thi Sách and Phan Văn Đạt, respectively) had also been opened, giving the area its present road layout.{{Cite web |last=Doling |first=Tim |date=25 May 2017 |title=Saigon's Famous Streets and Squares: Me Linh Square |url=https://saigoneer.com/saigon-heritage/6049-old-saigon-saigon%E2%80%99s-famous-streets-and-squares-me-linh-square |website=Saigoneer |access-date=24 October 2023 |archive-date=25 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025232730/https://saigoneer.com/saigon-heritage/6049-old-saigon-saigon%E2%80%99s-famous-streets-and-squares-me-linh-square |url-status=live }}

On 17 February 1879, the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the capture of Saigon, the authorities inaugurated a bronze statue of Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly (1807–1873) by sculptor Alexandre-Victor Lequien (1822–1905) on the roundabout.{{Cite journal |date=1889 |title=Bibliographie de l'Indochine orientale depuis 1880 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZnhAAAAAYAAJ |journal=Bulletin de la Société des études indo-chinoises de Saigon |pages=41 |access-date=2023-10-30 |archive-date=2023-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103071831/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZnhAAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Madrolle |first=Claudius |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5864864h/f208.item |title=Indochine du Sud. De Marseille à Saïgon ; Djibouti, Ethiopie, Ceylan, Malaisie, Cochinchine, Cambodge, Bas-Laos, Sud-Annam, Siam. Cartes et plans |publisher=Librairie Hachette |year=1926 |location=Paris |pages=10 |access-date=2023-10-24 |archive-date=2023-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024115314/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5864864h/f208.item |url-status=live }} This statue stood on a granite pedestal and was fenced off with golden-pointed railings, the Rond-point was henceforth known as place Rigault de Genouilly. The semi-circular open space of the square, in addition to the central roundabout where the Rigault de Genouilly statue stood, consisted of three surrounding gardens with two pyramid-shaped monuments placed on two of the three gardens.{{Cite book |last1=Nguyễn |first1=Khắc Viện |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRhvAAAAMAAJ |title=From Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City: a path of 300 years |last2=Ngọc |first2=Hữu |publisher=Thế Giới Publishers |year=1998 |pages=313–314 |access-date=2023-10-30 |archive-date=2023-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103071832/https://books.google.com/books?id=IRhvAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }} The first monument in the middle garden was relocated from its original position on the riverside at the end of rue Catinat.{{rp|118}} Its base read: {{lang|fr|« À Lamaille , le commerce saïgonnais reconnaissant »}} (translating to "To Lamaille with gratitude, Saigon merchants").{{rp|511}} The second monument in the left garden was a memorial to Ernest Doudart de Lagrée (1823–1868), the naval officer and explorer who died in Yunnan in 1868 while leading the Mekong expedition. And just like the first monument, this one was reerrected. It was first erected on boulevard Charner, shortly after the Grand Canal was filled in. In 1890, it was relocated to boulevard Bonard but only stood there for a few years. Then in 1895, to make space for the Municipal Theatre, it was again relocated to place Rigault de Genouilly.{{rp|503}} Additionally, in 1891, the terminus of the steam tramway line from Saigon to Chợ Lớn was installed on the quayside opposite the square.

Following the August Revolution in 1945, the Rigault de Genouilly statue was abducted and scholar Vuong Hong Sen revealed that it was later melted down.{{rp|73}} In 1955, place Rigault de Genouilly was renamed Mê Linh Square by the South Vietnamese government, after the two Trưng sisters' home prefecture. In March 1962, Madame Nhu, as the head of the newly-started Women's Solidarity Movement, erected a statue of the Trưng sisters at the square's center. The statue, cast by sculptor Nguyễn Văn Thế, portrayed the two sisters on a large three-legged pedestal, with one leg resembling an elephant trunk and the other two resembling the animal's legs.{{Cite web |last=Trung Hiếu |date=November 29, 2015 |title=Từ tượng Hai Bà đến tượng Trần Hưng Đạo 'trấn giữ' Bạch Đằng |url=https://thanhnien.vn/tu-tuong-hai-ba-den-tuong-tran-hung-dao-tran-giu-bach-dang-185521043.htm |website=Thanh Niên |language=vi |access-date=October 24, 2023 |archive-date=October 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024115314/https://thanhnien.vn/tu-tuong-hai-ba-den-tuong-tran-hung-dao-tran-giu-bach-dang-185521043.htm |url-status=live }} Mê Linh Square was also renovated with a pond added. However, the Trưng sisters' faces and figures were said to resemble Madame Nhu herself, and a rumor started that she had asked for the statue to be modeled after her own facial features.{{Cite web |last=Tran |first=Nhung Tuyet |date=September 3, 2021 |title=These elephant-riding warrior sisters freed ancient Vietnam from Chinese rule |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2021/09/these-elephant-riding-warrior-sisters-freed-ancient-vietnam-from-chinese-rule |website=National Geographic |access-date=October 24, 2023 |archive-date=October 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025232055/https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2021/09/these-elephant-riding-warrior-sisters-freed-ancient-vietnam-from-chinese-rule |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Demery |first=Monique Brinson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=paYPAAAAQBAJ |title=Finding the Dragon Lady: The Mystery of Vietnam's Madame Nhu |publisher=PublicAffairs |year=2013 |isbn=9781610392822 |access-date=2023-10-30 |archive-date=2023-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103071833/https://books.google.com/books?id=paYPAAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}{{rp|125–126}} Consequently, after the coup d'état in November 1963, the anti-government crowd tore down the statue and rolled the broken-off head through the streets.{{rp|206}} The pedestal was then left empty until 1967, when the current statue of Trần Hưng Đạo, commissioned by the Republic of Vietnam Navy and cast by sculptor Phạm Thông, occupied the spot.{{Cite web |last=Nguyễn |first=Minh Hòa |date=November 5, 2021 |title=Tôn tạo tượng Đức Thánh Trần và công viên Mê Linh: Cần một tâm thế mới |url=https://nguoidothi.net.vn/ton-tao-tuong-duc-thanh-tran-va-cong-vien-me-linh-can-mot-tam-the-moi-32016.html |website=Người Đô Thị |language=vi |access-date=October 24, 2023 |archive-date=October 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024115315/https://nguoidothi.net.vn/ton-tao-tuong-duc-thanh-tran-va-cong-vien-me-linh-can-mot-tam-the-moi-32016.html |url-status=live }} During the third Mongol invasion of Đại Việt, Trần Hưng Đạo was the commander of the naval battle on the Bạch Đằng River which resulted in Đại Việt's victory, and thus the South Vietnamese Navy chose him as their patron saint.{{Cite journal |date=October 5, 1970 |title=Pres. Thieu presides over Vietnamese Navy Day |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1RhdNj3Yr4C |journal=Vietnam Bulletin |volume=4 |issue=31 |pages=1 |access-date=October 30, 2023 |archive-date=November 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103071912/https://books.google.com/books?id=N1RhdNj3Yr4C |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Vu |first=Hao-Nhien |date=August 17, 2015 |title=Bolsavik: Why Vietnamese Gen. Tran Hung Dao is Headed to Mile Square Park |url=https://voiceofoc.org/2015/08/bolsavik-why-vietnamese-gen-tran-hung-dao-is-headed-to-mile-square-park/ |website=Voice of OC |access-date=October 24, 2023 |archive-date=October 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025211450/https://voiceofoc.org/2015/08/bolsavik-why-vietnamese-gen-tran-hung-dao-is-headed-to-mile-square-park/ |url-status=live }} The statue depicts Trần Hưng Đạo standing with his left hand holding a sword and his right hand pointing across the Saigon River.

File:Saïgon - Statue de l'Amiral Rigault de Genouilly.jpg|Statue of Rigault de Genouilly and the monument of Doudart de Lagrée in the background

File:Saïgon - Statue Rigault de Genouilly.jpg|Another view of the Rigault de Genouilly statue and the Lamaille monument in the background

File:Me Linh Square, Saigon (48788566027).jpg|Me Linh Square viewed from above in 2019

Buildings located in the same block will be marked with corresponding characters from the buildings directly adjacent to the square.

• IBC Building^a
• 2–4–6 Hai Bà Trưng (On hold)
• Vietcombank Tower
• Hilton Saigon Hotel^b
• Melinh Point^c
• Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon^d

• Liberty Central Saigon Riverside Hotel^d (behind Renaissance Riverside Saigon)
• Riverside Hotel^d
• Seaprodex 2–4–6 Đồng Khởi Building^d
• Hotel Majestic
• Grand Hotel Saigon^c https://vi.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh%C3%A1ch_s%E1%BA%A1n_Grand_S%C3%A0i_G%C3%B2n vi (behind Melinh Point)
• The Myst Đồng Khởi Hotel^b (next to Hilton Saigon Hotel)
• A25 Hotel^b
• Satra Đồng Khởi Building^b
• Saigon Times Square
• Hương Sen Annex Hotel (behind Vietcombank Tower)
• Sheraton Saigon Grand Opera Hotel
• Bông Sen Hotel
• Phước Lộc Thọ Building
• Vietnam People's Naval Army Barracks^a
• Tôn Đức Thắng Museum^a
• Aquari Hotel
• Express by M Village Đông Du

File:Me Linh Square, Saigon (48788564957).jpg|Mê Linh Square and surrounding area behind viewed from above

File:Statue of Tran Hung Dao, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.jpg|Closer look to statue of Trần Hưng Đạo

File:Bến Nghé, District 1, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - panoramio (24).jpg|Trần Hưng Đạo Statue pointing to Bạch Đằng Quay

File:Công trường mê linh, ward Bến Nghé, Quận 1, TPHCM, Việt Nam - panoramio.jpg|Ngô Đức Kế Street viewed from Mê Linh Square

File:19-12-2024 Ho Chi Minh City at night 7.jpg|Hồ Huấn Nghiệp Street viewed from Mê Linh Square

• Bạch Đằng Quay

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• {{Commons category-inline|Me Linh Square|Mê Linh Square}}

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Category:Squares in Ho Chi Minh City

Category:Streets in Ho Chi Minh City

Category:History of Ho Chi Minh City