Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Notre Dame Cathedral

Having been colonized by the French, Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has many french buildings and one of the popular landmarks is the Notre Dame Cathedral.
This Roman Catholic church was constructed in the late 19th century. Yeah, it is definitely not as outstanding as the Notre Dame Cathedral in France which I visited way back in 2003, but it is still a place worth visiting.

A huge statue of the Virgin Mary is located in the centre front of the cathedral. The two bell towers were tipped with the iron crosses. The total height of the cathedral to the top of the Cross is around 60 metres.

The inner chamber of the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Beautiful stained glass windows inside the cathedral

I have no idea what is written on the plates up there. (Duc Me = ??)

Statue of Virgin Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus inside the stable.

The cruxification

The main altar
**Addendum :To answer Cocka's question, there is no Hunch Back of Notre Dame greeting us at the entrance gate. Instead, we saw a handicapped beggar guy with Phocomelia (congenital disorder of the upper limbs with flipper-like appearance of the hands).

24 comments:

Cocka Doodle said...

Who greeted you at the door? The hunchback ah? LOL

mistipurple said...

ahya, pak cham kai beat me to that.

mistipurple said...

lol, just read the addendum!

Chen said...

cocka,
No woh, no hunch back of notre dame. Instead we were greeted by few handicapped beggars including the guy with phocomelia.. I have just included in the photo with captions in the post..

misti,
Walao.. Since when misti and cocka thinks alike? U both have great minds liao. I have just included in another picture for this post, in respond to Cocka's query :)

rainbow angeles said...

Aihhh... this country so sad.. :( but beautiful cathedral!

I love the stained glasses in churches. If oni I can do it for my house oso.. kkkk.. *sampat*

Leng maa... :P

L B said...

Now, I know I don't need to go to Vietnam as well... :-) Waiting for more....

may said...

see how little I know about Vietnam? didn't know they had such a beautiful cathedral. I almost thought it was somewhere in Europe liao...

Chen said...

The &^%$#& call from Telekom (telling me I had missed call yesterday night) to my house phone at 7 am wakes me up. So I'm now widely awake at 7 sumthing in the morning on a public holiday :(

angeles,
Yeah loh.. But the traffic here really hak sei yan. Never know crossing a road can be so scary...............

The stained glass window is indeed leng. The one in the churches in Europe are much more leng. Too bad i didn't take much photos in the past when I toured Europe :(

LB,
Kkkkkk... like that also can? Yeah, we will have a tour around Ho Chi Minh City and not forgetting the Chu Chi Tunnel :D

May,
I also dunno leh prior to this.. Kkkkkkk.. Didn't expect Vietnam to have such a cathedral too. So we are kinda 2 x 5 :P

Selba said...

I remember I was at that Notre Dame Cathedral on a shiny day in January 2005 :)

Did you also visit the old post office accros the cathedral.

Seriously, I think Vietnam is worth to visit! Well, I admit that we can not compare Vietnam to other 'high cultural' countries, but for me, my Vietnam trip is the BEST ever trip I've ever experienced in my life. I was there for 10 days and visited several cities: Hanoi, Halong Bay, Danang, Hue, Hoi An, and Saigon.

:)

fibrate said...

He he Chen, can't help but notice...I went to these same places last year!

moz monster said...

I've never been a real fan of Ho Chi Minh city, but Notre Dame will always be a favorite in this city !

Chen said...

selba,
Wow, that was exactly 3 years ago. Yeah, we stopped by the post office for a short while before continuing our journey to our next stop. The traffic in Saigon is the most memorable wan. Never know crossing a road can be so scary. Hahahaha

U covered several places in Vietnam during your 10 days trip. I presume u visited Cu Chi Tunnel too? That was an interesting one too :)

fibrate,
Hehehe, u can refresh your memories once again. I wanna visit Switzerland again. I love that place, but dunno when I can do so loh :(

moz,
I remember u told me u prefer the scenic Hanoi. I would love to visit that place too. Wah, so many places I wanna visit. How? :D

Doreen said...

Beautiful church! Really looks like somewhere in Europe. Feel sorry for the begger.....

Selba said...

Oh.. you managed to stop by the old post office? Cool!!! :)

Did you see an old vietnamese man sitting on a long desk? He is a translator and has been translating letters for those vietnamese people who can not write in English/French. He has been doing it for more than 40 years. It's free :)

Yes, I also visited Chu Chi Tunnel. Oh my... it's so unbelievable... I can't imagine that people could live in those tunnels for years.

You got nice pictures of Chu Chi Tunnel? Share... share in here ;)

My Rantings said...

This is one place I didn't visit when I was there. :(

Chen said...

doreen,
Yeah, this is a beautiful church, although not as outstanding as the cathedrals in Europe. There were several handicapped beggars begging for money near the church compound.

selba,
Oh.. I didn't notice the old vietnamese man as we were there just for a short duration.

Yeah, the Cu Chi Tunnel is indeed a great experience. I have fun shooting the AK-47 Rifle. Yeah, I have taken 200+ photos at Cu Chi Tunnel and will post up some later on :)

dancing queen,
I see. U can take a glimpse of the church and the interior here then :)

a^ben said...

i like these sort of cathedrals larh!! the sculpture, the everything` o m g. EVen more syok when got choir singing JS BAch's masses` woah!!! drools droolss ka chng io io io drooools :P

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous architecture - wish I could be there.

eastcoastlife said...

I thought it must be a very backward place, how come got such a beautiful catherdral!

Chen said...

ben,
U will love those cathedrals in Europe. The Notre Dame Cathedral in France, The Cologne Gothic Cathedral in Germany, The Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral in UK etc etc. All are super leng :)

giddy tiger,
Let's pay a visit to Vietnam :)
With Air Asia, now everyone can fly. LOL :P

ECL,
I didn't know the presence of this cathedral in Saigon earlier on prior to the tour too. This cathedral was built in the late 19th centuries by the French people :)

Anonymous said...

he may just another victim of Agent orange. i read that the agent orange can cause birth defects like phocomelia

_butt said...

wow, great shots of the Notre Dame Catheral! :D

Chen said...

slurp,
I see. I'm not familiar about Agent Orange.

One of the medications that can cause birth defects such as phocomelia is consumption of thalidomide during pregnancy.

butt,
Thanks. This one is nice but I love the one in Paris more. Too bad i didn't take many photos of it in the past :(

kyh said...

nice nice nice... for someone who loves architecture and religious buildings so much, i must visit this someday!!!