Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon
Twin-towered brick cathedral fronted by a granite Madonna once believed to weep before crowds.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon opens on an October night in 2005, when word spread that the granite statue out front was crying, drawing thousands into the little park to crane their necks at one stone face until police moved in to control the crowd. It follows the statue's own journey, carved in Rome by the Italian sculptor G. Ciocchetti and shipped here in 1959, and the priests who tried to talk the city down from what it believed it saw. It also traces the cathedral itself, built from bricks shipped from Toulouse in the final years of the 1870s, still holding their color today.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Nhà Thờ Giáo Xứ Tân Định
Salmon-pink Catholic church blending neo-Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance details.
Nhà thờ Huyện Sỹ
Gothic Revival church funded by a colonial-era tycoon, whose marble tomb lies behind the altar.
St Francis Xavier Church
Gothic and Chinese-influenced Catholic church in Cholon, site of a deposed president's final refuge in nineteen sixty-three.
Saigon Cao Dai Temple
Three-tier sanctuary of a syncretic faith, watched over by a giant Divine Eye above the entrance.
People's Committee of Hồ Chí Minh City
Ornate French colonial city hall with Corinthian columns and allegorical facade sculptures, still a working government seat.
Thien Hau Pagoda
Cantonese guildhall temple honoring a sea goddess, its roof lined with porcelain figures and ceiling hung with giant coiled incense.