About 3 km away, the exterior wall of the Notre Dame Cathedral has also been increasingly vandalized with drawings for several years now.
An ongoing project to renovate the church is expected to be completed in 2027 and will either replace or clean the damaged and defaced bricks.
The church was built by the French in 1877 and it took three years to complete. The Notre Dame Basilica of Saigon has been officially classified as a Basilica by the Vatican since 1959.
A side wall and door of the Saigon Opera House have also been smeared with scribbles, affecting the aesthetic of the building that is now 123 years old.
Work on the theater began in 1898 and was completed two years later. It has a facade facing Dong Khoi Street in District 1, and is one of the typical European architectures leftover from the French period.
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.
HCMC announced in September that the building will be restored at a cost of VND337 billion (US$13.86 million).
Sprayings defile a wall of the Hoa Xa complex at 136 Ham Nghi Street in District 1.
The complex comprises two buildings, one L-shaped and the other a rectangular structure in back. The structures stand in front of iconic Ben Thanh Market.
The facility used to serve the Saigon Railway Station, being a midpoint for trains heading to places like Hanoi, Loc Ninh Town (Binh Phuoc Province) and My Tho Town (Tien Giang Province). The station was first built in District 1 in 1885 and was moved to its current District 3 location in the 1930s.
A man was made to repaint the wall of Saigon General Hospital near historic Ben Thanh Market after he painted his nickname in graffiti style there. He was also fined VND1.5 million (US$61.74).
Saigon General Hospital at 125 Le Lai Street is one of the oldest hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City. It grew from an original clinic built in 1914.
Put into use in April last year, Ba Son Bridge, a new Ho Chi Minh City icon that crosses the Saigon River, has already been vandalized.
Drawings along the stairs leading to the bridge.
Linking Thu Duc City and District 1, Ba Son has six lanes and cost VND3.1 trillion ($134.54 million) to build.
Running 1.5 km long, the bridge helps reduce traffic in the nearby Thu Thiem tunnel, which runs beneath the Saigon River, and also between the downtown area and the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in Thu Duc City.
