The Citadel of Saigon (Vietnamese: Thành Sài Gòn [tʰâːn ʂâj ɣɔ̂n]) also known as the Citadel of Gia Dinh (Vietnamese: Thành Gia Định [tʰâːn ʒaː dîˀn]) was a late 18th-century fortress that stood in Saigon (also known in the 19th century as Gia Dinh, now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam from its construction in 1790 until its destruction in February 1859. It was destroyed in a French naval bombardment as part of the colonisation of southern Vietnam which became the French colony of Cochinchina.