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Date With the Wrecking Ball: Thu Thiem Parish Church and Lovers of the Holy Cross Convent

Two of Saigon’s oldest Roman Catholic institutions, located across the river in Thủ Thiêm, may soon be gone.

in Saigon

[Video] This Is What Saigon Looked Like in 1945

There's something wholly captivating about old footage of Saigon. In a city that seems to transform in the blink of an eye, it's rare to find evidence of the southern hub from long ago.

in Saigon

Date With The Wrecking Ball: The Customs Directorate Building

The Customs Directorate, one of the city’s best-loved colonial landmarks, is the latest in a series of government buildings to face the threat of redevelopment.

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Saigon’s Famous Streets and Squares: Thái Văn Lung Street

One of the city's oldest thoroughfares, the street we know today as Thái Văn Lung bore the name Pasteur Street for over half a century.

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Saigon’s Famous Streets And Squares: Trần Hưng Đạo Boulevard

One of Saigon’s youngest major boulevards, Trần Hưng Đạo was built in 1911-1913 over former swamp land to provide a more direct route between the cities of Saigon and Chợ Lớn.

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Saigon’s Famous Streets And Squares: Hai Bà Trưng Street

One of Saigon’s longest and busiest streets, Hai Bà Trưng is a thoroughfare of great antiquity which dates back more than 200 years.

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20 Photos Of 1960s Phu Nhuan

Everyone in Saigon knows the drill: what's a shoe store today might be a phở stall tomorrow. Hairdressers become restaurateurs, office buildings turn into hotels and your favourite bánh mì cart could ...

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Icons Of Old Saigon: The Maison Centrale de Saigon

One of the most hated government buildings in colonial Saigon, the Maison Centrale de Saigon (Khám Lớn Sài Gòn), or Saigon Central Prison, was a truly grim institution where thousands of unfortunates ...

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30 Old Pictures Of Thu Duc District: Former Weekend Getaway

Thu Duc isn't exactly a place you'd consider going on holiday. Today, the suburban district is home to industrial centers, dusty roads, busy residential neighborhoods and rumbling transport trucks, un...

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Saigon’s Famous Streets and Squares: Pasteur Street

Known for most of the colonial period as Rue Pellerin, Pasteur Street has grown from ancient inner-city waterway to one of the city’s most desirable streets.

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Old Saigon Building Of The Week: 86 Võ Văn Tần

The ornate mansion on the corner of the Bà Huyện Thanh Quan and Võ Văn Tần junction was once the private residence of celebrated photographer Fernand Nadal, whose old sepia postcard images of the city...

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Saigon’s Famous Streets and Squares: Lê Duẩn Street

When it was first laid out in 1870, the broad avenue we know today as Lê Duản was christened boulevard Norodom, after the Cambodian monarch who in 1863 had entrusted his kingdom to the protection of t...

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Saigon’s Famous Streets And Squares: Tôn Thất Thiệp Street

One of the oldest streets in Saigon, Tôn Thất Thiệp street was known in the early French colonial period firstly as rue No 9 and then from 1863 as rue de l'Église, after Saigon's ill-fated first Roman...

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[Photos] Xe Vélo Solex: A Forgotten Saigon Classic

Both bicycles and motorbikes have long played an important role in the lives of Vietnamese (and at times, its occupiers). Starting in the 1950s, French-made motorized bicycles known as Solex became in...

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Saigon’s Famous Streets and Squares: Quách Thị Trang Square

In this, the first of a new series about the history of the famous streets and squares of Saigon and Chợ Lớn, Tim Doling looks at the history of Quách Thị Trang square.

in Saigon

21 Beautiful Photos Of 1961 Cho Lon

Cho Lon has long been a center of commerce and culture, tracing its history back to 1778 when the Chinese population of Bien Hoa was forced to relocate after being targeted by Tay Son forces in retali...

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The Saigon Tax Trade Center Mosaic Staircase: A Forgotten Moroccan Masterpiece

When the Hồ Chí Minh City authorities announced in 2014 that the Saigon Tax Trade Centre was to be demolished and replaced with a 43-storey tower block, many voices were raised in opposition to the de...

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Saving Saigon Tax Trade Center’s Mosaic Staircase, 'A Priceless Work Of Art'

Six months after the Hồ Chí Minh City People’s Committee’s promise that both internal and architectural and design features of the old Saigon Tax Trade Centre would be preserved and incorporated into ...

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Date With The Wrecking Ball: Maison du Combattant

Yet another piece of old Saigon heritage faces the wrecking ball following the recent public auction and sale of the former Maison du Combattant “gold land” site at 23 Lê Duẩn.

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20 Captivating Photos Take You Back To 1960s Saigon

Despite Saigon’s rapid modernization over the past two decades, old photos of the city from the 1960s reveal a number of persisting characteristics – from sleeping xe om drivers and seas of motorbikes...