The Tomb of Lê Văn Duyệt

One of Vietnam’s most cherished military heroes, Lê Văn Duyệt, is buried alongside his wife at a temple in Saigon’s Bình Thạnh district. Constructed after the marshal’s death in 1830, this religious complex provides an attractive place of quiet, in the middle of an otherwise chaotic neighborhood.

Born in 1763, Lê Văn Duyệt was from a Mekong Delta peasant family, but he rose to prominence during the military campaigns of the future emperor Gia Long. Duyệt became the emperor’s most important m...