In front of you is Bến Nhà Rồng, the “Dragon House Wharf”. Today it is a branch of the Hồ Chí Minh Museum, but it began life as the office of a French shipping company.

1A shipping line with dragons

After the conquest, the French entrusted the building of Saigon's commercial port to the Messageries Impériales company, renamed Messageries Maritimes in 1871. Its office building was begun on 4 March 1863 and finished within a year. It was a Western-style house, but on the roof ridge two glazed ceramic dragons were placed facing a moon, a motif typical of Vietnamese temples. Hence the popular name. Tickets for the steamers linking Saigon with Marseille were sold here.

2The voyage of 1911

On 5 June 1911 a 21-year-old named Nguyễn Tất Thành boarded the steamer Amiral Latouche-Tréville at this wharf, working as a kitchen hand under the name Văn Ba. He would spend three decades abroad and come back as Hồ Chí Minh. That is why 5 June is commemorated in Vietnam, and why, after 1975, the building became a memorial and museum.

3What to look for

  • The dragons on the roof, which were replaced with new ones in the 1950s.
  • The initials M.I. of Messageries Impériales on the side gables.
  • The Saigon River, where the steamers from France used to arrive.

Documented

The start of construction in 1863 and Nguyễn Tất Thành's departure on 5 June 1911 are recorded in the shipping company's records and in Vietnamese historiography.

Oral tradition

The claim that “Nhà Rồng” means “Gia Long” is a popular misunderstanding with no basis: the name comes from the dragons on the roof.

Sources and credits

Hồ Chí Minh Museum, Ho Chi Minh City branch (baotanghochiminh.vn); William J. Duiker, Ho Chi Minh: A Life (Hyperion, 2000); Vietnamese Wikipedia, “Bến Nhà Rồng”.

Photos:

  • Salmon-coloured colonial building of Nhà Rồng Wharf, surrounded by gardens by the river: Gary Todd, CC0.

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