The iconic, stately and elegant Saigon Opera House, also known as the Ho Chi Minh Municipal Theater, is hard to miss as it is located at the intersection of Ð Dong Khoi and ÐL Le Loi. The front of the building is a good place to take photos or maybe just sit round and spend some time people-watching. A Highland Coffee Shop outlet is located behind the building. During our visit, a pre-nuptial photo shoot was ongoing at the bottom of the steps in front of the theater.
Saigon Opera House
Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to see the inside unless we watched an actual performance (plays, concerts, ballet, opera, and Vietnamese traditional dance) or the 60-min. AO Show (6 PM and 8 PM), a show fusing dance, circus and musical forms in a vibrant and light-hearted series of sketches. However, prices for these performances don’t come cheap. For the AO Show, admission ranges from 630,000 VND to 1,470,000 VND (US$29.7 to US$69.3).
A venue for pre-nuptial photo shoots
This grand, 1,800-seat colonial building, an example of French Colonial architecture in Vietnam, was designed, as the Opėra de Saigon, by architect Felix Olivier and its construction, started in 1898, was supervised by architects Ernest Guichard and Eugène Ferret. The theater was completed on January 1, 1900. Its applied ornaments, balustrades, cartouches and roof are particularly French while the large central arch, Ionic columns, coffered ceiling and the caryatids (though less modestly clothed than Greek examples) are Greco-Roman motifs.
The veranda and richly-engraved central arch
In 1944, the theater was damaged by the Allied air attacks and, in 1954, was used as a temporary shelter for French civilians arriving from North Vietnam. After 1956, the building was restored and used as the home of the Lower House assembly of South Vietnam and it was not until 1975, after the fall of Saigon, that it was again used as a theater. In 1995, the theater was again restored.
A scantily clad caryatid
Shaped like the Opéra Garnier in Paris, the Municipal Theater is a smaller counterpart of the Hanoi Opera House (built between 1901 and 1911). Influenced by the flamboyant style of the French Third Republic, its ornate façade, decorated with inscriptions and bas reliefs, is shaped like France’s Petit Palais (“little palace”) which was also built in 1900. In 1943, some of its decorations, engravings and statues were removed from the theater façade (to make the the theater look more youthful) but, in 1998, during the 300th anniversary celebration of Saigon, a portion was restored by the city government.
Bas reliefs and paired Ionic colums
This opera house has an 800-seat main seating floor plus two levels of seating above; a sweeping staircase; and all the inscriptions, décor, and furnishings were designed and drawn by a French artist and sent from France. It now hosts the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (formerly the Ho Chi Minh City Symphony and Chamber Orchestra), one of the city’s premiere entertainment companies.
Deatil of bas relief
The theater is equipped with state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems, and safety equipment. Many of its original architectural and decorative features, including a stone veranda, white stone statues at the entrance, colorful granite tiled floors, chandeliers, bronze statues in front of the stairs, richly-engraved auditorium arch and wall statues, have been incorporated. In 2009, an outdoor lighting system was installed on the roof of the Opera House.
The author, Jandy, Osang and Violet
Saigon Opera House: 7 Lam Son Square, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: 08 3829 9976.