The Ho Chi Minh City Post Office, or the Saigon Central Post Office ( vi, Bưu điện Trung tâm Sài Gòn, french: Poste centrale de Saïgon), is a post office in the downtown
Ho Chi Minh City
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
, near
Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, the city's cathedral. The building was constructed when Vietnam was part of
French Indochina in the late 19th century. It counts with
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
,
Renaissance and French influences. It was constructed between 1886 and 1891 and is now a tourist attraction.
It was designed by Alfred Foulhoux, but is often erroneously credited as being the work of
Gustave Eiffel or a collaboration between Foulhoux and
Hanoi-based
Auguste Henri Vildieu
Auguste Henri Vildieu was the French architectural adjutant in Hanoi while that city was an administrative center for the French colony of Indochina. Vildieu constructed several grand European-style buildings for the colonial government, includin ...
. 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 July 14, 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.”
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").
Dương Văn Ngộ
Dương Văn Ngộ (born 1930) is a retired Vietnamese postal worker and polyglot public letter writer known for being the longest-serving and last public letter writer and translator in Vietnam, having written thousands of letters over three decad ...
, known for being the last public letter writer in Vietnam, worked at the office from 1990 to 2021.
Gallery
References
Web Site
Ho Chi Minh Post Office
Buildings and structures in Ho Chi Minh City
Post office buildings
Clock towers
French colonial architecture in Vietnam
Tourist attractions in Ho Chi Minh City
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