Saigon Central Post Office - Wikipedia

Post office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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Saigon Central Post Office
Bưu điện Sài Gòn, Bưu điện Trung tâm Sài Gòn, Tòa nhà Bưu điện Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
Saigon Central Post Office in 2023
Interactive map of the Saigon Central Post Office area
Former names	Sở dây thép Sài Gòn (Vietnamese; in French colonial period)
Alternative names	Saigon Post Office Ho Chi Minh City Post Office Building
General information
Type	Post Office
Architectural style	Eclecticism
Location	No.2 Paris Commune Square, Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Coordinates	10°46′48″N 106°42′00″E / 10.78000°N 106.70000°E / 10.78000; 106.70000
Years built	1860-1863 (Former building) 1886-1891 (Current building)
Renovated	2014
Renovation cost	US$200,000
Owner	Vietnam Post
Design and construction
Architects	Gustave Eiffel (Former building)  Auguste Henri Vildieu, Foulhoux (Current building)

The Saigon Central Post Office (Vietnamese: Bưu điện Trung tâm Sài Gòn, French: Poste centrale de Saïgon) is a post office in Paris Commune Square, Saigon ward, Ho Chi Minh City, next to the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, the city's cathedral.

History

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The building was constructed when Vietnam was part of French Indochina in the late 19th century. It counts with Gothic, Renaissance and French influences. It was constructed between 1886 and 1891 and is now a tourist attraction.[1]

It was designed by Alfred Foulhoux,[2] but is often erroneously credited as being the work of Gustave Eiffel or a collaboration between Foulhoux and Hanoi-based Auguste Henri Vildieu. As translated by the historian Tim Doling, the journal Architecte constructeur: Revue du monde architectural et artistique of 15 September 1891 commented: “The inauguration the new Saigon Post Office, which was held on 14 July, had been postponed until the return of the Governor General. This monument, adorned with a most artistic façade, is particularly well laid out and well equipped for the different services to which it is intended; it does the greatest honour to the skill and talent of the distinguished Chief Architect of the Colony, M. Foulhoux.”[3]

On the outside wall of the post office there are several plaques commemorating important scientists and engineers, who contributed to the development of the communication technologies of the time. These include Morse, Ampere, Volta, Ohm, and Faraday.

Inside the Saigon Central Post office of special note are two painted maps that were created just after the post office was built, the first one located on the left side of the building is a map of Southern Vietnam and Cambodia titled Lignes telegraphiques du Sud Vietnam et Cambodge 1892 ("Telegraphic lines of Southern Vietnam and Cambodia 1892").

The second map of greater Saigon is titled Saigon et ses environs 1892 ("Saigon and its surroundings 1892").[4]

Dương Văn Ngộ, known for being the last public letter writer in Vietnam, worked at the office from 1990 to 2021.

Gallery

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• Front view of the Saigon Central Post Office with Ho Chi Minh City Television Tower behind
• Interior view of the Saigon Central Post Office with portrait of Ho Chi Minh centrally on the back wall

References

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1. ^ "Saigon Central Post Office". Travelfish.org. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
2. ^ "Foulhoux's Saigon". Historic Việt Nam – Tim Doling's Heritage Portal. 3 January 2014. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
3. ^ "Informations". L'Architecte constructeur : revue du monde architectural et artistique (in French). Vol. 42. 15 September 1891. p. 326. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2021 – via Gallica.
4. ^ Hoffman, Ben (10 September 2012). "Saigon Central Post Office Ho Chi Minh City". Vietnam Travel Guy. Archived from the original on 11 January 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2012.

External links

[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saigon Central Post Office.

• Ho Chi Minh Post Office

v t e French colonial architecture in Vietnam
Hanoi	Presidential Palace Grand Opera House St. Joseph's Cathedral Long Biên Bridge French School of the Far East Hôtel Metropole Grand Palais Tonkin Palace Hỏa Lò Prison Cửa Bắc Church Hàm Long Church Indochina Medical College Central Station Đồng Xuân Market Museum of Fine Arts Museum of Revolution Supreme Court State Bank National Library Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ho Chi Minh City	Post Office City Hall Municipal Theatre Notre-Dame Cathedral Tân Định Church Museum of Ho Chi Minh City Hotel Continental Saigon Hotel Majestic Bến Thành Market Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History
Other municipalities	Haiphong Opera House Museum of Cham Sculpture Dalat Palace Hotel Basilica of Immaculate Conception Tam Tòa Church Mằng Lăng Church

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