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Recently, Business Insider named Notre Dame Cathedral in Saigon as one of the 19 most beautiful cathedrals in the world. Other famous churches on the list include: St. John the Divine Cathedral (USA), Milan Cathedral (Italy), Saint Sebastian Cathedral in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa (Canada), and Dormition Church in Moscow (Russia). Many of these churches were built centuries ago, when modern machinery was scarce and construction took decades, even centuries, to complete.
Business Insider notes that the Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, modeled after the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, is the result of a design competition held in August 1876, with architect J. Bourard winning the bid for the project.
The Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral began construction on October 7, 1877, and took two and a half years to complete. Initially, it was called the State Church because the entire construction cost of 2,500,000 francs was provided by France. In 1959, it was renamed Notre Dame Cathedral, and the square in front of it was called Our Lady of Peace Square.
The Notre Dame Cathedral in Saigon was built in the Romanesque style, measuring 93 meters long, 35 meters wide, and 57.3 meters high. Most of the building materials, especially the red bricks and tiles, were imported from France. The cathedral's foundation was specially designed to withstand a load ten times greater than the entire structure of the church above. The cathedral also lacked the fences or walls surrounding it that were common in the Saigon-Gia Dinh area at that time.
When first completed, the church's two bell towers were about 37 meters high, but in 1895, a steel spire was added, raising their height to 60 meters and adding nearly 30 kg in weight. Inside, this grand and distinctive architectural masterpiece is decorated with gold leaf and marble, creating a highly aesthetic effect. Above the church's attic are a series of stained-glass windows, crafted by the Lorin de Chartres workshop in France.
From the bell tower, visitors can see the square with the statue of Our Lady of Peace at its center. The statue, 4.6 meters tall and weighing 5.8 tons, is made of unpolished white Carrara marble from Italy, with the entire body, including the face, still bearing rough carving marks.
According to representatives from Notre Dame Cathedral in Saigon, the current restoration work will continue for many more years, at least until the end of 2025, because repairing, renovating, and upgrading a 140-year-old historical building like Notre Dame Cathedral is a very difficult and complex task, thus taking much longer than expected.
Having weathered nearly two centuries of ups and downs, Notre Dame Cathedral in Saigon has become an icon and one of the must-see destinations for both domestic and international tourists visiting Ho Chi Minh City.
