Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica

In the heart of old Saigon is Paris Square, which comes with its own Norte Dame Cathedral Basilica.

Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, built in the late 1880s by French colonists, is one of the few remaining strongholds of Catholicism in the mainly Buddhist Vietnam. 

In 1959 the statue called “Peaceful Notre Dame “  was placed outside the church and it then referred to as Notre Dame Cathedral.  Fond memories of Paris, the colonists, started creating their own petit Paris.

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It received the Cathedral status as a basilica in 1962 by the Vatican and giving it the official name of Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica. 

The Neo-Romanesque structure is almost 60metres in height and the all-red brick facade imported from Marseille.  It comes with stain glass windows, two bell towers with six bronze bells that still rings daily in its Ho Chi Minh City District 1, the downtown area.

The Virgin Mary statue which stands peacefully outside, which locals claimed to have shed tears in October 2005. Thousand visitors still flock with the hopes of witnessing a miracle. It has become a popular attraction and I am sure the local store are doing well by this. The incident was refuted by the Catholic Church of Vietnam.

The Cathedral is still an active church with services on Sundays.