The catholic church in Sai Gon sponsored by Huyen Sy family in the trending of french colonial urban civilization

Researching on the architecture of these five churches not only shows the genius of the Vietnamese over hundred years ago in architectural art, but also reproduces the living conditions of the city aptly named the Pearl of the Far East, which is full of dreaming and nostalgic beauty. Besides, these five old churches in Ho Chi Minh City are also considered as plentiful cultural resources and have high values for the development of city tourism.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN SAI GON - SPONSORED BY HUYEN SY FAMILY

- IN THE TRENDING OF FRENCH COLONIAL URBAN CIVILIZATION

Dinh Thien Phuong1

1 Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industy

Information:

Received: 01/12/2017

Accepted: 03/01/2019

Published: 11/2019

Keywords:

Church architecture, cutural

perspective, French colonial

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, Ho Chi Minh City is the second largest area of Catholic population in Viet Nam, with 202 parish churches and more than 1,500 diocese chapels Especially, there are five ancient churches which were sponsored by the Huyen Si family under the French colonial period, when this land was still named Saigon

Researching on the architecture of these five churches not only shows the genius of the Vietnamese over hundred years ago in architectural art, but also reproduces the living conditions of the city aptly named "the Pearl of the Far East", which is full of dreaming and nostalgic beauty Besides, these five old churches in Ho Chi Minh City are also considered as plentiful cultural resources and have high values for the development of city tourism

1 LE PHAT DAT - HUYEN SI, A GREAT

LAND TYCOOM IN SAIGON

Vietnamese Southern folk has a proverb: "The

First is Si, Second is Phuong, Third Xuong,

Fourth Hoa" (in some places, Dinh is in place

of Hoa) This proverb indicates four richest

men of Saigon in the early twentieth century

and their reputation still handed down to

nowadays

Mr Le Phat Dat was originally named Le Nhat

Si, born into a poor family in Long An, working

as a boatman carrying people to Cau Kho

market to sell agricultural products and honey

A vicer near his house taught him Quoc Ngu

(Vietnamese in Roman Alphabet), he studied

hard and quickly This Vicar , after that,

sponsored him to study in Malaysia Mr Nhat

Si was fluent in Chinese, French, Latin, and

Malay, then returned to work as an interpreter

He studied more with two scientists, Truong Vinh Ky and Truong Minh Ky Because Truong Vinh Ky’s penname was “Si Tai”, Nhat Si was afraid of resembling his teacher’s name, so he changed his name to Phat Dat After the French gave him “District rule” title, in Vietnamese

“ong Huyen”, from then he was called Huyen

Si

When Saigon had many deserted houses and gardens in Ben Nghe and Thu Duc because people fled from war, French government intended to assimilate the population by expanding urban planning They offered a low-price auction to civil servants, but no one bought it So, they forced the officials working for them to deduct salaries, more or less to buy

Regarding this, Tran Nhat Vy (2015) wrote:

"To accomplish this intention, right from 1861, French wanted to relieve Saigon by confiscating ownerless lands" Huyen Si was a

civil servant at that time, so he had to buy some

ownerless lands After Huyen Si had his land

rented for cultivation, the wild field became

fertile and lush, so he decided to invest more

“Soon, profits from agricultural products and

land trading turned his family to land tycoons.”

(Vuong Hong Sen, 2013)

He was rich but generous He and his sons

Vinh, Phat, set up many markets and helped

many people in Tan An, Dong Thap and Cu

Lao Gieng, especially in the storm in the year

of the Dragon (1904) Another charitable work

of Huyen Si family has been remembered until

now was “to build five grand Catholic churches

for the five parishes in Saigon” (Nguyen Nghi,

Khong Thanh Ngoc & Hoang Minh Thuc,

2007)

The five cathedrals contributed to the

architectural treasure of the French colonial

period, reflecting a period of brilliant

development - "Saigon – The Pearl of the Far

East"

Architect Nguyen Huu Thai praised the ancient

Catholic churches in Saigon: “Before the

arrival of the French, Vietnamese Catholic

communities existed with their own lifestyle and

cultural characteristics Especially in terms of

belief Western style churches, monasteries,

educational and social institutions have

appeared differently because they have been

combined with graceful indigenous styles.”

Architect Nguyen Van Tat, Vice Chairman of

Ho Chi Minh City Association of Architects,

called it " architectural fund in the line of

contemporary urban architecture" (Pham

Truong Giang, 2016) Currently, "Urban

Classical" style of church architecture in Ho

Chi Minh City is succeeded and revived by

some famous architects The initial success

caused a wave of "classical regression” with

many churches in the city such as My Hoa,

Dong Quang, Binh Trieu, Loc Hung, Tan

Thanh, Ben Hai, Phu Binh, Bac Dung,

SPONSORED TO BUILD CHURCHES

BY HUYEN SI

Cho Dui parish: The church was directly contributed by Le Phat Dat in buying land and building The church was started in 1902, designed by priest Bouttier, and completed in

1905, but not until 1907 was its bell tower built (Tran Huu Quang, 2015) Huyen Si church is also considered one of the oldest churches in Saigon (Vuong Hong Sen, 2013) Therefore, this church is also called Huyen Si church In

1920, remains of Huyen Si and his wife were relocated to this church (Le Trung Hoa &

Thach Phuong, 2008)

Chi Hoa parish: was started in 1890 by Mr and Mrs Huyen Si’s land donation and major funding

Tan Dinh parish: Tan Dinh church is a fairly early construction, just after Cho Quan church, started in 1870 Although not a full sponsor, District Huyen Si has contributed greatly to the re-construction in 1895 Particularly, in the construction of the bell tower and the border of the walls, the sons of Huyen Si contributed a lot

Thu Duc parish: the church was built in 1879, possibly designed by Bouttier, the designer of Cho Dui church Mr and Mrs Huyen Si also offered money for remodeling and reconstructing this church to the present shape

Hanh Thong Tay parish: the name of Hanh Thong village phonetically assimilated from Hanh Thong which means Advantage (in Vietnamese) (Le Trung Hoa & Thach Phuong, 2008) Hanh Thong Tay church was built after

Mr Huyen Si had died It is said that once passing the church, seeing the Saint Josepht statue wearing a bag, Mr Le Phat An knew that the bag was hanging to ask for money to repair the church He generously sponsored the whole building cost Hanh Thong Tay Church started

in 1921, the original design was drawn by Baader, but “façade” had technical problems

and faulty design solution, so Le Phat An chose

Lamorte contractor to replace

Thus, there are totally two churches completely

sponsored by Mr and Mrs Huyen Si, one

church his family offers land and money, two

other churches his family funded for expansion,

building bell towers, painting, making art

decoration

3 THE CHURCHES SPONSORED BY

ARCHITECTURAL VIEW

In terms of design style, all five churches were

built in classical style with special and unique

characteristics The outstanding feature is that

these structures vividly illustrate the An Nam

art style, which Henri Gourdon said: “preferring

to raze for building a new than to renovate,

prefer sophisticated to grand (Gourdon, 2017)

Huyen Si Church: Light French Gothic style,

also known as Lux Gothique, still retains the

three basic features of Gothic antiquity: the

slope is nearly 60 degrees high, the height of

the isosceles triangle is very large, the arch

pointed crossbones, central window is a

rose-round door and border window extends upward,

oval-shaped in head, double-side glass

paintings create brightness, the skylight

connected to two backstages’edges, high bell

tower, octagonal peak with thorns, combining

two auxiliary towers, creating a light block

horizontally The body of tower solided by

stone, but the stone wall is criticized because it

burdens facade, reducing the serenity

Thu Duc Church: Gothic combined with

Rococo style Thu Duc church was originally

Gothic, but it removed some features of Gothic

and added some Rococo ones Some typical

features are as follow: the tower is not covered

with sharp thorn; there are no auxiliary towers

but low arches; the rose windows are removed,

sub-glass doors are fewer and replaced by

heavy bars In addition, it borrowed two

features from Rococo: First, there are four

guarding towers on either side (a kind of small

altar to place a temporary statue called guard tower) with no statue Secondly, the wall connected to the high wind bar in the shape of a flower vase ranks on the edge of the ledge, stretching, covering the slope of the church, making the viewer feel like a square roof and

the border is heavy and hard “to express the

majestic power of France and Spain in Colonies” (Wesseling, 2007)

Chi Hoa Church: built in Roman architecture

without a bell tower Its main features are different from Gothic in the following aspects

Firstly, the ceiling is lower on two sides, pushing the pressure structure to the midle The arch of the church is round and parallel, not pointed diagonally, dispersing the main force to the two horizontal borders instead of diagonally across Therefore, the church wall is thick, solid and heavy There are no glass doors on either side but a wind bar, only a few stained-glass windows in the wing and the sanctuary area

Secondly, there are a square tower on sanctuary area to take the stillness of the light and many wooden doors Thirdly, the façade of the church is simple with no round rose windows, few freaks, no borders and the front doors are

decorated with symbolic pictures “Such

Roman architecture was built in colonial

Mozambique, ” (Pabois & Toulier, 2007 and

Le Brusq, 2003)

Tan Dinh Church: Gothic architecture combined with Baroque In terms of Gothic, Tan Dinh church was not entirely Gothic but it took off a few Gothic elements, borrowed more Roman and Byzantin architecture in the following two points First, it borrowed from Roman the round arches instead of shape arches; thick walls and fewer glass windows, replaced with vetilator louvers to enhance the

"sound tearing" effect to make the bell ring farther and get more air instead of more light It borrowed from Byzantin a special arch tower architecture in which the two auxiliary towers are the top guard tower, the tower body is

octagonal instead of square, especially two

more horizontal church spaces are connected

from the bell tower Besides, it is influenced by

architecture of Barouqe in two ways First, in

the church center is higher than the two sides

with the deviation of two louvers to get the

wind to cool the ceiling; this gap is connected

down, forming the inner wall - the main wall of

the church, and linking the outer wall into two

layers of walls with the purpose of sound and

heat insulation The columns are decorated by

Corinth formula style with the Mediterranean

spines-shaped columns, combined with laurel

leaves The columns of decorative boards are

very complicated Second, the church facade is

decorated with many signs, borders, patterns,

with little empty space The doors are divided

into two parts: the bottom is the door and the

upper is the arch of the window; the body of the

column is subject to wide overhangs, and the

octagonal room is also full of sophisticated but

heavy patterns

Hanh Thong Tay Church: Designed by Baader

contractor and then completed by Lamorte The

Church is in Byzantine style, similar to Vitale

church in Italy The Byzantine architecture is

characterized with tall, onion-shaped dome, the

top of which makes the protrude light tower,

instead of taking light mainly in the bell tower

and side windows The first tower had a pointed

peak, but because of aviation security, the 9-

meter point pyramid was unloaded into a flat

tower The façade was simple and solid with no

windows but only a series of glass panels under

the dome connected to the main door Theere

are straight walls with no decoration, few doors,

small windows; light apertures and ventilators

are pushed up, making the church murky and

separate The unique characteristic of the

church is the decoration of columns and

Mossaic paintings with stones The church

column is decorated with Composite formula: a

complex combination of Ionic and Corinth,

arched ornate arch with deep painting in

Eastern European style instead of embossed

reliefs in Western European style (Pabois &

Toulier, 2007 and Le Brusq , 2003)

In general, the five churches Cho Dui, Chi Hoa, Thu Duc, Tan Dinh and Hanh Thong Tay are a Classical architectural conservation source of Saigon urban Along with Cho Quan, Nga Sau, Cha Tam and Xom Chieu, these five churches sponsored by Huyen Si contributed to the formation of nine masterpiece churches in Saigon in the French colonial period From these nine churches, hundreds of famous classical style churches throughout Southern Vietnam simulated more or less, leading to the wave of "European Classical style regression"

in Southern church architecture of Vietnam, after the domination period of American contemporary style church: Art Decor and Mid Century, two styles considered by Morrison as:

“examples for typical of tatally pragmatic

thinking in architecture” (Morrison, 1987)

Five churches sponsored by Huyen Si family from Cultural Geography perspective

From Cultural Geography perspective, five churches sponsored by Huyen Si family were designed with two main characteristics: based

on the size and geographical space of each parish, based on population condition and faithfuls’ cultural activities Because of respect

to strict principles such as doors ratio, convection rates, high and low rates, these churches have a balanced, harmonious shape and are evaluated by architects as not obsolete over time

Geography perspective is getting less and less focused in the architecture of big cities in Southern Vietnam today Urban churches are normally built high with the internal space spread out as much as possible to accommodate people and create superficiality and immensity, ignoring landscape architecture and living space

The architects of the five churches have conceptualized their cultural geography perspective in two steps

The first step is to consider the parish size and

climatic features of the geographical space in

which the parish resides

These five churches in particular and nine

churches in the Saigon classical group, in

general, were not intended to build large to

accommodate a large number of parishioners

Churches were built just large enough to

accommodate their parishioners The maximum

capacity is only 2/3 of the total parishioners

For instance, Chi Hoa parish at that time had

700 parishioners, but the church was built only

enough for nearly 400 seats; Thu Duc had about

1,000 parishioners, and the church was built

just for 500 people Therefore, the church has a

spacious, cool, isolated campus landscape

design

The churches in the group sponsored by Huyen

Si family emphasized their response to the

natural environment and social population

characteristics Thu Duc Church was originally

located at Go Nha Tho, about 3 km from the

current position It was a low-lying, flooded

area which was a muddy area with difficult

access 100 years ago; therefore, Thu Duc

administrative board moved the church to its

present location on a high mound with a clear

climate If we observe the terrain of Thu Duc, it

is recognizable that after heavy rains, Kha Van

Can Street and Road No 5, 6 of Linh Trung

area surrounding Hien Linh church are heavily

flooded, but Thu Duc church yard is always dry

with quick drainage

Chi Hoa parish is also in similar condition This

parish is small with parishioners living around,

so the church does not build a bell tower The

bell is arranged on the pointed end of the

church, just enough to announce the ceremony

to the parishioners However, the church is

located in the swirling area 100 years ago when

there were fewer houses than today, the wind

was very strong, so the wall was designed to be

thick enough to ensure wind resistance and

there were not many doors so as not to create

spreading winds directly into the parishioners

and wooden door frames were designed for easy opening and closing by the season temperature Walls are not sophisticatedly decorated or sculptured because cornices and borders can be cracked or broken due to long-lasting wind, which are bad and dangerous

The facade has fewer louvers so that the wind does not blow too strongly from the back to the sanctuary area Therefore, it is reasonable to choose Roman architecture because of the horizontal bearing plates and solid walls

The second step was based on residential characteristics and urban living factors to design the church

A typical example was Tan Dinh church

Instead of light, priority was given to the design of "tearing the sound", how to make the bell echo as far as possible, but inside the church hall there are two layers of thick walls, ensuring the best soundproofing This design was based on the urbanization characteristics of Tan Dinh area which is stronger than other parishes in 1930s of last century According to Vuong Hong Sen (2013), since 1910 the main road in front of the church was expanded and traffic was busy Tan Dinh market was held on the opposite side, flanked by many shops, warehouses, one-horse wagons station

Therefore, Tan Dinh church was more focused

on dealing with sound than light On the contrary, this problem later created a restriction

on light, so the two auxiliary towers had to be opened for more wind shafts to get more light for the frontier hall

Hanh Thong Tay church was also built in that way In 1915, many Catholics of Hang Sao (Cho Cau, current District 12) fled the war and gathered here When the church was built, it was intended to be Gothic, but the two contractors carefully studied the terrain and decided to build it in the Byzantine style Until now, architects still highly appreciate the stature in the architectural orientation of Baader and Lamorte when predicting three problems

The first one was that the number of parishers

would increase, so if the church were built in

Gothic style, the diagonal bearing structure

would be difficult to adjust afterwards, and just

over 20 years, the church would be full

Meanwhile it was necessary to build a church

the two sides of which could be expanded; for

instance, the original design of this church was

only 14,2 meters in width, but now it is possible

to expand to 18,6 meters Second, Hanh Thong

Tay church was in the flight path of many

French aircrafts taking off from Tan Son Nhat

airport, so the church must be steady to avoid

aircraft sound waves Third, in front of the

church, a coach station was formed, and on the

side was a road to transport flowers from Go

Vap flower village, so the church’s sound

insulation and isolation had to be guaranteed

Considering these elements, they built a

Byzantine style church which was retreated 50

meters from the road

A Byzantine style church has thick walls and

bearing structure in compartments, each of

which bears force in wings, and walls built in

columns As a result, walls can be removed and

loosened at two side edges This method is

good for soundproof and convenient to loosen

up Some current vestiges illustrating this idea

is the bell tower foot covered with boulders to

prevent vibrations, while the church wall is

thick but vacant without decoration for easy

expansion in future

In 1946, the Old An Nhon parish were

devastated by bombs in war, and Old An Nhon

parishioners moved to Hanh Thong Tay, so the

number of people coming for ceremony

doubled Thus, after 21 years of completion,

Hanh Thong Tay church had to expand two

borders to 1.5 meters more Currently, during

the ceremony, there is still a slight vibration each time the aircraft passes

Five churches sponsored by Huyen Si family from the perspective of Urban Tourism exploitation potentials

The contribution of landscapes of five churches sponsored by Huyen Si is five jewels in the system of nine ancient churches - a masterpiece

of French colonial architecture fund in Saigon

With such a system of historic churches, it is possible to exploit the potential of cultural tourism without destroying the spiritual landscape but still utilize to develop Pilgrimage and Cultural tourism, typically with thematic tours of architecture, art, history, anthropology, urbanism, Saigon under French colonial period for researchers, young people, students and all citizen For foreign scholars, these churches are

a series of beads in sequence of historical events, vividly recreating the living and cultural activities scenes of Old Saigon people for nearly 100 years of French domination in Vietna and further expanding the system of old churches architecture throughout the Southern

Directions to take advantage of potential from the value of these nine old churches architecture, including the five churches sponsored by Huyen Si family, combine with other factors to form unique tours attracting scholars, intellectuals and foreigners The plan

is to coordinate with other factors, or change the subject when exploiting daily life of old Huyen Si family and rich men in French colonial period to form a number of typical tours and activities as follows:

Matrix plan to utilize a combination of other factors to form some tours and tourism activities

Ingredients:

ancient churches in

Saigon - HCMC

Auxiliary

elements

Specific tourism products, tours, tourism

activities

Kinds of guest

ARCHITECTURE

(Sight seeing - Fieldwork - Science Conference)

Old churches

including five

churches sponsered

by Huyen Si family

Churches built in Vietnamese traditional architectecture type: pagoda style, temple style (Thi Nghe church, Thu Thiem church, )

Contrast between East - West tendencies in old church architecture in Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City

Architects, culturalogy scholars, architects and art students, Indochina and Vietnamese researchers, , Urban Study students,

Churches influenced by US pragmatic architecture style:

Mid Century, Post Modern 1954 -

2000 (about 100 churches)

Domination of

"American pragmaticism" on

"French romanticism" through church architecture in Saigon -

HCMC

Stadium structure style of architecture in modern urban churches

The contrasts of "urban cascading" style (stadium style) synagogues with "rural landscapes" style in Saigon – HCMC churches

Notre Dame

Geography space of the French style old architectural churches in Saigon - HCMC in comparison with churches in Paris - France

ART ACTIVITIES

(Exhibition - Fieldwork - Experience - Workshop)

Five churches

sponsered by Huyen

Si family

Wedding photos

The set of wedding photos in ancient European style churches: Gothic, Roman, Byzantine create the feeling

of being in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium,

Photographers, married couples

Travel photos, journal photos

Personal photos, lover couples photos, groups of friends rediscover the

atmosphere of Old Saigon

Individuals with a keen interest in old Saigon culture by French colonial period

Exhibition

of Old Saigon space

Installation Art in spaces of French building churches, recreating a part of living space of Saigon residents in French colonial

period

Foreign guests and intellectuals who love nostalgia

Religious and art souvenirs, press,

A photos series of ancient Saigon church on ceramic plates set, stamps collection, books, screens,

wall paintings,

Foreign Catholic or Christian guests

CULTURE - CULTURAL CHARACTER

(Compilation camp - Accommodation - Cusine) (Expanding to change to other subjects from main subject is five old churches)

Mr Le Phat Dat

(Huyen Si) in the

Saigon Great Eight

Catholic scholars -

eight major

contributors to

Saigon's urban

civilization (change

the coordination

subject from the old

churches

architecture to

Huyen Si family)

Tran Chanh Chieu accompanied with Nguyen An Khuong, Nguyen Vien Kieu,

(Nam Trung hotel traces, Luc Tinh Tan Van newspaper, )

Businessmen – tycoons rich men of Western studied in Saigon, who raised National self-determination in the early time

of French colonial period

Culturalogy scholars, History researcher, Journalists, Anthorology students,

Saigon General Tran Huu Phuong, silk tycoon Xuong,

Traces of the four great tycoons in Old Saigon

house tycoon Hui Bon Hoa

Nam Phuong Qeen and Bao Dai King

The richest olman in Vietnam, the most prestigious woman in the Southern and the King who ended 143 years of Nguyen Dynasty

French style architecture church

- Eastern style architecture church

- French scholars (Yersin, Herbarld, .)

Vietnamese culture in French colonial period (case

of Saigon 1884 - 1954)

HISTORY

(Sightseeing - Accommodation – Cuisine - Composition Camp)

Mr Le Phat Dat

(Huyen Si) with

Tran Chanh Chieu,

Nguyen An Ninh,

Nguyen Truong To,

Doctors: Pétrus Truong Vinh Ky, Truong Minh Ky, Huình Tịnh Paulus Của,

Two fighting style to pay independence and autonomy for Annam in the early French colonial period:

"self-reliant knowledge" and "

self-reliance economy "

History scholars, Culturalogy scholars, Museum Study, Sociologists,

Chieu Nam Lau menu, Nam Trung hotel, Minh Tan restaurant,

(Son Nam, 2009)

Reconstructing an aristocratic meal of rich people and educated Western scholars of

Old Saigon

Guests who are fond

of Vietnamese Southern culinary

Horse wagons, other ancient places in Saigon

Spring sightseeing tours by horse wagons on old Huyen Si family journeys around five churches from Thu Duc to Go

Vap

Experience guests

Old tomb in Saigon

Archaeological for Saigon old tombs of famous cultural characters in Nguyen dynasty and French colonial period: Phan Thanh Gian, Le Van Duyet, Le Quang Dinh,

Tran Van Hoc,

Archaeologists, foreign students studying Vietnamese, Indochina Study students

Catholic

Saigon Catholic History

in the early Twentieth century through old churches

architecture

Journalists, journalism and language students Vietnamese

Southern Press History of Saigon press

in the early Twentieth century

Cuong De, Nguyen Truong

To, Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chau Trinh, Japanese Ambassador

Consulate of 100 years Dong

Du movement

Vietnamese scholars, educational managers, students of pedagogy,

CONCLUSION

Huyen Si - Le Phat Dat, a Saigon Catholic land

tycoon, and his children contributed money to

sponsor five grand parishes in Saigon to build

grand churches Those five churches, including

Cho Dui, Tan Dinh, Thu Duc, Chi Hoa and

Hanh Thong Tay, together with four other

churches: Cha Tam, Nga Sau, Cho Quan and

Xom Chieu, formed a system of Saigon

Catholic architecture of European-style, an

invaluable architectural foundation and

inspiration for architects of Classical

architecture style

In addition to the blend of classical styles by the

general way of thinking typical in Vietnamese

culture by which the architects have been

influenced, these five churches also show

intelligence and creativity in architectural

solutions by two points: The first one is a

harmonious perspective that promotes

aesthetics and visual arts, and the second is

contingency to cope with adverse natural conditions such as swirling winds, sunken land, climate change, or social conditions: near markets, near parks, near airports, wagons stations, Besides, there is a deep social vision and accurate anticipation such as parishers’s evacuation because of hostilities, the formation

of construction works or big trade centers,

The combination of these five churches with other old churches and cultural -historical elements, can create dozens of tours for sightseeing, meetings, and enjoying art: Saigon press, classical French architecture, Minh Tan movement, ancient Saigon cuisine, Bao Dai - Nam Phuong, antique fairs, artwork, Saigon publications of the previous century: porcelain plates, screens, stamps, painting fans, cups,

Thus, the system of churches sponsored by Huyen Si family is not only an invaluable architectural fund of Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City but also a source of valuable cultural