Saigon Opera House to get $13.8M facelift

Lam Ngo Hoang Anh, office chief of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told a city meeting on Thursday that as a national relic, the deteriorating opera house needs a renovation to preserve it and maintain the municipal icon that attracts foreign visitors as a venue for major cultural events.

The most important requirement for the renovation project is to ensure the original architectural integrity of the historic building.

The project will take three years to complete.

The facade of the Saigon Opera House. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

During the time the project is underway, the Opera House will continue to function normally as the restoration work will be conducted in phases.

L'Opera de Saigon was designed by French architects in the Flamboyant style, a phase of late Gothic architecture from 15th-century France and Spain. The building was completed in 1900.

The 500-seat building used to serve as the parliament of the Republic of South Vietnam.

After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, it was put back into use as a theater.

It underwent a renovation in 1998, when HCMC spent VND25 billion restoring embossed wall murals on the walls and statues.