Notre Dame Cathedral hochiminh city

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.