The People’s Committee Building of Ho Chi Minh City was built in 1898 and was put into use in 1909. It was designed by Gardes who is a famous French architecture.

Location and history

The People’s Committee Building of Ho Chi Minh City is located at one end of Nguyen Hue Street, one of the most beautiful streets in this metropolis.

The building was built and put into use in 1909 as a hotel whose original name was Hôtel de Ville. It was designed by Gardes, a famous French architecture. This building is thus one of the oldest, biggest and most beautiful French style buildings in Ho Chi Minh City, functioning both as a city institution and as the city’s most prominent landmark today.

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A majestic ancient beauty

At first glance, it’s seen as a simple and beautiful old monument with 3 main buildings. The middle is the highest among the three, creating a balanced structure. There are also 3 statues that were embossed on the building. In the middle, it’s a woman and children who were taming the furious animals. On the left and right side of the building, there were 2 women holding swords who are ready to fight. Adding to the majestic ancient beauty of the building were the delicate bass-relieves on the walls, popular feature of French colonial style.

In fornt of the building, lying a small yard with many trees, flowers and especially the statue named “Uncle Ho and children” made by artist Nguyen Minh Chau. The statue was made to show the love and respect of Vietnamese people to the greatest leader Ho Chi Minh as well as to remind us of his loving children personality. Especially at night, the whole construction is spectacularly illuminated and looks beautiful like a castle in the dark.

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How to get there

The People’s Committee Building of Ho Chi Minh City locates at Nguyen Hue street, one of the most beautiful and popular streets in Ho Chi Minh City. Therefore, if you stay in hotels in District 1, it does not take you much time to walk there. You can follow Le Loi Street and then turn left. You will see the building right in front of you.

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Because of convenient location, everyone has a chance to visit and admire the beautiful and unique design of the building. Unfortunately, because the building is for government workplace, it is not open for tourists to visit inside to view completely the beauty of the architecture.

Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, officially called Basilica of Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception is a cathedral located in the downtown of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Established by French colonists, the cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880. This is an excellent work of the Catholic Church in particular and religion in general.

On 7 October 1877, Bishop Isidore Colombert laid the first stone in an inaugural ceremony. The construction of the cathedral took three years. On Easter Day, 11 April 1880, a blessing ceremony and ceremony of completion were solemnly organized in presence of the Governor of CochinchinaCharles Le Myre de Vilers. One can see the granite plate inside the main entry gate commemorating the start and completion dates and designer.

The total cost was 2,500,000 French francs (at that time price). At the beginning, the cathedral was called State Cathedral due to the source of the construction funds.

Notre Dame Cathedral Saigon

The foundation of the building was well-designed so that it can bear 10 times of the huge weight of the church above. A unique point is that the surface of the entire building was made of uncoated brick and blue stone from Marseille under amazingly accurate calculation. These bricks have retained their bright red color until today.

The cathedral nave has the length of about 133m and the width of 35m. Bearing symmetrical style, with height descending backwards, the architectural details and decorative details follow Roman and Gothic style – dignified and elegant. The architecture of the church nave has made great lighting effects to the interior, giving a sense of tranquility, holiness and solemnity.

There is an organ in the upstairs above the main door. It is one of the oldest pianos in Vietnam which was completely handmade. Due to the time and not be in a good preparation, the guitar was broken.
The bell tower of the church originally only had 36,6m high without roof. After being renovated in 1895, its height is 57,6m currently – the highest church steeple in Vietnam.

There is a big clock in the front of building, between the two bell towers, under the roof. It looks like a window when seeing in a distance, but inside it’s a pretty massive engine, weighing more than 1 ton. The clock is produced in Switzerland in 1887, though its old and primitive design, it still works pretty accurately.

Notre Dame Cathedral

The statue of Lady of Peace at the center of the flower garden in front of the Cathedral was made by sculptor G. Ciocchetti in 1959 in Italy. She is standing upright, holding a globe attached the crucifix and looking up at the sky as if praying…

So far, through many political and historical upheavals, Notre Dame Cathedral is still the architecture of urban masterpiece in Saigon. Luckily, it was not destroyed by war as many other works in the past and time seems to be unable to erase the splendor of this elegant structure.

Along with a number of neighboring buildings in District 1 as the central Post Office, City Theatre, City Museum, Reunification Palace, the cathedral is an outstanding building making a feature of urban architecture in Saigon – Ho Chi Minh City.