Homeland

Saigon Central Post Office is one of the most famous and iconic buildings to visit Ho Chi Minh City. It is a beautiful preserved remnant of French colonial, an important part of Vietnam’s history. Built around 1886 – 1891, Saigon Central Post Office is not only a post office but it is also a historic building that has witnessed many life-changing events in the history of South Vietnam.

The building was designed from Gothic, Renaissance and French colonial by architect Alfred Foulhoux. It somewhat reminds us a railway station with its large clock and iron fence. Because it was designed by a French architect, it has been a piece of Europe in the center of Ho Chi Minh city. Together with other buildings which were developed at the same time, they have made the city as a harmony of Oriental and Western. Names of French inventors who devoted to telegram and electricity are placed between the old green windows to memorize their contribution to the development of telecommunication industry.

Inside the building, we see a looping arches, intricately designed marble floor. Some antiquated telephone boxes are kept there since the post office was built to remind us their importance in the old days before email and mobile phones. On the high walls are two big maps of the region, one of them displaying the telegraph lines that went across Vietnam and Cambodia and another showing a map of the Saigon (named Ho Chi Minh City now) in 1892. The building combines a museum, post office and souvenir shops. There is always a lot of people visiting this place, not only tourist but also local ones.