The book Sai Gon – Ba The Ky Phat Trien va Xay Dung

HCM CITY (VNS) — People keen to discover the architectural changes in Viet Nam's largest city may find a lot of information in a book released on April 25 in Vietnamese-English and Vietnamese-French.

Entitled Sai Gon – Ba The Ky Phat Trien Va Xay Dung (Sai Gon – Three Centuries of Developing and Building), the book is the result of co-operation between top French and Vietnamese researchers.

The book is divided into four parts, comprising information and figures of the city from its establishment to 1859; its French architecture and urban planning after 1975; a review of the major changes in its architecture since 1945; and remarks by writer Son Nam, a researcher of Sai Gon's heritage in different periods.

There are also photographs and information about 63 renowned sites and major buildings of the city, such as Phuoc Hai Pagoda, Phuoc Kien Pagoda and Chandaransay Temple.

The book was first printed in 1998 on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of Sai Gon (present-day Ho Chi Minh City), as a joint effort of the city's administration, the urban community of Lyon and the French consul-general. — VNS