Le Van Duyet Tomb and Shrine

Behind the shrine, two graves lie side by side. One holds a general. The other holds his wife, Đỗ Thị Phẫn, who was buried beside her husband in the same grounds.

Many people think Bà Chiểu is her name. It is not. Bà Chiểu is the name of the area, and the tomb stands close to Bà Chiểu Market. People shortened its name to Lăng Ông Bà Chiểu. Its official name is Thượng Công Miếu.

The people of Saigon hold General Lê Văn Duyệt in deep reverence. He was born in 1764 in the Định Tường region, which later became Tiền Giang province and is now part of Đồng Tháp. As a boy he entered the court as a eunuch. He served Lord Nguyễn Ánh through the hardest years, including a time of refuge in Siam, which is today's Thailand. Nguyễn Ánh would later take the throne as Emperor Gia Long.

Together they defeated the Tây Sơn in 1802 and united the country. The Tây Sơn were three brothers who led an uprising from 1771 and for a time ruled Vietnam. The general became one of the foremost founding officials of the Nguyễn dynasty. It was Vietnam's last royal dynasty, which reigned from 1802 to 1945.

In 1812, Emperor Gia Long, the founder of the Nguyễn dynasty, made him Governor-General of Gia Định Thành. Gia Long was the name that Nguyễn Ánh took as emperor. It was the highest official post in the south, and he held it for 20 years without a break. In those years he opened up the south. He cleared new farmland around Saigon and Đồng Nai. He did the same in Định Tường and Vĩnh Long.

He was tolerant of Catholicism and allowed French missionaries to teach the faith in the south. That was very different from the later policy of Emperor Minh Mạng, who opposed Catholicism. The general also kept good diplomatic relations with Cambodia and Siam. The people of the south honored him as Đức Thượng Công, the highest rank of meritorious official under the Nguyễn.

He died in 1832, and Emperor Minh Mạng conferred a posthumous honor on him. It seemed that his life had ended in glory.

But three years later, in 1835, tragedy came.

The general's adopted son, Lê Văn Khôi, had risen in revolt against the emperor in 1833. Khôi held Saigon for three years and allied himself with Siam and with French missionaries. In 1835, Minh Mạng put the revolt down. More than 1,831 people were executed. The emperor also blamed the general, who had been dead for three years, saying that he had shielded his adopted son's rebellion.

The emperor ordered the general's grave destroyed. A large stone tablet was set up with these words carved on it: "Here lies the eunuch Lê Văn Duyệt, made to submit to the law." The tablet stood over the broken grave of a man who had died three years before.

It was one of the most tragic political events of the Nguyễn dynasty.

Six years later, in 1841, Emperor Thiệu Trị came to the throne after Minh Mạng. He cleared the general's name. The tablet that named his crime was taken down, and the tomb was rebuilt on a larger scale. In 1848, the shrine and the tomb were finished. From then on, the people of Saigon held ceremonies there every year.

Today, Lăng Ông Bà Chiểu is one of the most sacred shrines in Saigon. People in the south honor the general as a guardian spirit of careers and good fortune. At the start of the year, traders, business owners, civil servants and students come here to pray for luck. The largest ceremony is the Khai Hạ and Cầu An festival, held on the seventh day of the first lunar month. In 2022, it was recognized as national intangible cultural heritage.

The tomb was ranked a national historic site on November 16, 1988, the same day as nearby Giác Lâm Pagoda.

It is a place of worship, and it is also a witness to a tragedy and a name cleared too late. The people of Saigon did not forget him, even while the court's tablet of blame still stood on his grave.