On June 5, 1911, the patriotic young man Nguyen Tat Thanh left the country on the ship, Admiral Latouche Treville, to begin his quest for salvation. Many changes have taken place over the past 100 years but Nha Rong Wharf still exists and ideals of the young man who later became the great leader of Vietnam are still shining along with the nation.
Nha Rong Wharf - Sai Gon’s trading port on the Saigon Vietnam River – was built in 1863 by French colonialists. The building was a combination of western and eastern architecture.
Nha Rong is the name that Vietnamese used to call the office of France’s Messageries Maritimes Company. This magnificent building was built in 1863, four years after the French seized Saigon. It has original and strange architecture. Its roof has the elegant beauty of the roof of a Chinese pagoda with two dragons competing for a fireball. As there are two dragons on the roof, Vietnamese call the building Nha Rong.
Nha Rong is located at the three-way intersection of the Saigon River and Ben Nghe Canal. On the far side of the canal, there was a rice field on a high area. At that time, there was no bridge over the canal, so people went to Nha Rong by boat. More than 20 years later, the Messageries iron bridge was built to connect Adran Street, now Ho Tung Mau Street, with the far side of the canal.
Messageries Maritimes was a big sea transport company and was established in 1851. It was headquartered in Marseilles and had shipping routes to America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Many ships of the company were named after Vietnam’s geographical places such as Annam, Tourane, Sontay, and Haiphong. Nha Rong Wharf was the stopover for ships going from Marseilles to Hong Kong and Yokohama.
Many postcards were printed with the images of ships and wharfs used by Messageries Maritimes and there were paintings of the company’s ships in storms. Nha Rong appeared in many postcards for decades. Later it was printed on the Vietnamese 50,000-dong banknote. Together with Ben Thanh Market, Nha Rong is one of the two symbols of Ho Chi Minh City.
After the French colonial were defeated in 1954, the wharf was managed by the South Vietnam government which repaired the roofs of the two houses and replaced the old dragons with two new ones that dace outwards.
After Unification Day, the building became a historical relic and memorial area for President Ho Chi Minh.
To mark the 10th death anniversary of Uncle Ho on September 2, 1979, Nha Rong Wharf welcomed visitors to an exhibition on “President Ho Chi Minh’s career for salvation”. The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee decided to turn the “President Ho Chi Minh Memorial” into the “Ho Chi Minh Museum” on September 20, 1982.
The museum collects, preserves, displays and disseminates information about President Ho Chi Minh’s life and revolutionary career as well as his love for the southern people.
The Ho Chi Minh Museum in Ho Chi Minh City currently has more than 11,000 documents and items and 3,300 books on President Ho Chi Minh.
Nha Rong Wharf is a great location for tourists Vietnam travel who want a unique experience.
Tags: 