Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral
Situated right in the heart of Hochiminh City, Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral, or Notre-Dame Basilica of Saigon to be exact, is a famous age-long cathedral in Southern Vietnam. It is a magnificent building located in Hochiminh City downtown, attracting not only Catholics but also most tourists for its neo-Romanesque style architecture and a sacred atmosphere.
Historical story
Established by French colonists, the cathedral was constructed
between 1863 and 1880. It has two bell towers, reaching a height of over 58
meters (190 feet). Following the French conquest of Cochinchina and Saigon, the
Roman Catholic Church established a community and religious facilities for
French colonialists.
First, the church was built on Rue 5 (today’s Ngo Duc Ke
Street). This had been a Vietnamese pagoda, which had been abandoned during the
war. Bishop Lefevre decided to make this pagoda a church. In 1959, Bishop
Joseph Pham Van Thien, whose jurisdiction included Saigon parish, attended Holy
Mother Congress held in Vatican and ordered a Peaceful Notre Dame statue made
with granite in Rome. When the statue arrived in Saigon, on February 16th,
1959, Bishop Pham Van Thien held a ceremony to install the statue on the empty
base and presented the title of “Regina Pacis”. It was Bishop Pham Van Thien
who wrote the prayers “Notre-Dame bless the peace to Vietnam”. On the following
day, Cardinal Aganianian came from Rome to chair the closing ceremony of the
Holy Mother Congress and solemnly chaired the ceremony for the statue, thus the
cathedral was then-on called Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Honored Basilica Status
The cathedral boasts its honored status as a Basilica
consecrated tens of years ago. In 1960, the Vatican founded a Roman Catholic
dioceses in Vietnam and assigned archbishops to Hanoi, Huế and Saigon.
Notre-Dame cathedral was titled Saigon Chief Cathedral. Yet, in 1962, Vatican
anointed the Saigon Chief Cathedral, conferred it basilique. Since then, this
cathedral was called Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, which has enhanced
its honor and absorbed hundreds of thousands of catholics as well as
international tourists to pay a visit.
The special architectural style
Apart from the religious meaning that attracts tourists, the even
more special captivating point of Notre-Dame Cathedral is its special
neo-Romanesque style of architecture. During its construction, all its red
bricks were imported from Marseilles and colored glass windows made in France’s
Chartres Province, France. Tiles have been carved with the words Guichard
Carvin, Marseille St André France (perhaps stating the locality where the tiles
were produced). Some tiles were carved with the words “Wang-Tai Saigon.” Many
tiles have since been made in Saigon to replace the broken tiles caused by war.
There are 56 glass squares supplied by the Lorin firm of Chartres province in
France. The cathedral foundation was designed to bear 10 times the weight of
the cathedral. In front of the cathedral is a statue of the Mary. On a whole,
the neo-Romanesque architecture and two 58m-high square towers tipped with iron
spires dominate the city’s sky, creating a beautiful religious site!
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