Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon

Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon, officially Cathedral 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 who initially named it Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Saïgon, the cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880. It has two bell towers, reaching a height of 58 meters .HistoryFollowing the French conquest of Cochinchina and Saigon, the Roman Catholic Church established a community and religious services for French colonialists. The first church was built on today's Ngo Duc Ke Street. There had been a Vietnamese pagoda, which had been abandoned during the war. Bishop Lefevre decided to make this pagoda a church.The last church was too small. Thus, in 1863, Admiral Bonard decided to build a wooden church on the bank of Charner canal (Kinh Lớn). Lefevre put the first stone for construction of the church on 28 March 1863. The construction was completed two years later and was called "Saigon Church". When the wooden church was damaged by termites, all church services were held in the guest-chamber of the French Governor's Palace. This palace would later be turned into a seminary until the Notre-Dame Cathedral was completed.After the design competition, bids were accepted for construction. Again, J. Bourard was the successful bidder and became supervisor of constructions.Originally, there were three proposed sites for construction: On the site of the former test school (today, this is at the corner of Le Duan Boulevard and Hai Ba Trung Street). At Kinh Lon (today it is Nguyễn Huệ Boulevard) At the present site where the cathedral is situated. All building materials were imported from France. The outside wall of the cathedral was built with bricks from Toulouse. Although the contractor did not use coated concrete, these bricks have retained their bright red color until today.