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Situated right in the heart of Hochiminh City is the most famous landmark as well as core Cathedral of the city, Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral (translated as “Nhà thờ Đức Bà Sài Gòn). Notre-Dame Cathedral, or Notre-Dame Basilica to be exact, is a famous age-long cathedral in Southern Vietnam. It is a magnificient building located at the paris Square in Hochiminh City downtown, attracting not only Catholics but also most tourists for its neo-Romanesque style architecture and a sacred atmosphere. Historical story Established by French colonists, the cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880. It has two bell towers, reaching a height of over 58 meters (190 feet). Following the French conquest of Cochinchina and Saigon, the Roman Catholic Church established a community and religious services for French colonialists. The first church was built on Rue 5 (today’s Ngo Duc Ke Street). This had been a Vietnamese pagoda, which had been abandoned during the war. Bishop Lefevre decided to make this pagoda a church. In 1959, Bishop Joseph Pham Van Thien, whose jurisdiction included Saigon parish, attended Holy Mother Congress held in Vatican and ordered a Peaceful Notre Dame statue made with granite in Rome. When the statue arrived in Saigon, on February 16th, 1959, Bishop Pham Van Thien held a ceremony to install the statue on the empty base and presented the title of “Regina Pacis”. It was Bishop Pham Van Thien who wrote the prayers “Notre-Dame bless the peace to Vietnam”. On the following day, Cardinal Aganianian came from Rome to chair the closing ceremony of the Holy Mother Congress and solemnly chaired the ceremony for the statue, thus the cathedral was then-on called Notre-Dame Cathedral. Honored Basilica Status The cathedral boasts its honored status as a Basilica consecrated tens of years ago. In 1960, the Vatican founded a