Huyen Sy church, heritage of the richest man in Saigon | www.VietBright.com
Back to the history about 100 years ago, in Saigon, there was a myth about the four richest men not just in Saigon but the whole six southern provinces. They were 1.Mr Sy 2.Mr Phuong 3.Mr Xuong 4.Mr Dinh. According to some sources, Mr. Sy is even richer than the King – Bao Dai. The Huyen Sy church that i am going to show you is the heritage of Mr. Sy who also was grand-dad of Nam Phuong queen.
Huyen Sy church was built from 1902 to 1905, followed the design of Bouttier with Gothic style. The size of the church is 40 meters long, 18 meters wide. According to the original design, the church would be 50 meters long, but then, at that time, the Chi Hoa church was damaged hardly. So, they decided to reduced 10 meters of the length to rebuild the Chi Hoa church as well.In front of the church, there was a statue of saint Gam Le Van who was executed in nearby area. The granite at the outside was used from Bien Hoa.It took Mr. Sy about 300,000 Indochine dollars – about one/seventh his wealth to build the Huyen Sy church which was the best iconic heritage from him to the next generations.The decorations and colors look so elegant and beautiful.On the top of the bell tower, there was an iron Gaulois chicken – a popular symbol from French architecture at that time. The height from ground to the Gaulois on top was 57 meters.On the right side, there was a big statue of Jesus Christ, it was placed there in 1974.View from the side of the Huyen Sy church.The pine trees at the side of Huyen Sy church seem to love looking through the round top glass window.Inside the church, the dome-shape roof, two rows of columns, the colors – all just give us a so elegant and calm felling.The color glass windows was bought from Italy, each of them was telling a story from bible.The main alter in Huyen Sy church with Jesus Christ status on top.At the back of Huyen Sy church, there was a private room devoted to Mr. Sy and his wife Mrs. Tai. There were two statues made of white granite by the Italian about their coffins. The impossible excellent works on every details – the faces, the skins, the pillows and especially the draperies on clothes made us think it was just a eternity calming sleep of these two great people. Have a good night, Mr. Sy and Mrs. Tai.
That’s it my friends, another old and beautiful church in my country that i am so proud to share with all of you around the world as a bright side of Vietnam. See you on the next post, soon.
