Ho Chi Minh City Museum

The Alfred Foulhoux building, erected 1885-1890, once the Commercial Museum and then the palace of the Governor of Cochinchina — today it holds 45,666 objects and 2 national treasures.

The Ho Chi Minh City Museum was founded on 12 August 1978. The building was erected between about 1885 and 1890 to a design by the French architect Alfred Foulhoux, originally as the Commercial Museum, its facade modelled on the Louvre, with a relief of Mercury, the god of commerce, and a roof with an East Asian air. Later the building served in turn as the palace of the Governor of Cochinchina and then as the supreme court, and it came to be known as Gia Long Palace after the street in front of it. On 19 May 2012 the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism listed the building as a national architectural and artistic monument. The museum now manages 45,666 objects grouped into 133 collections, of which 14 are classified as rare and precious. The permanent display comprises seven rooms: Nature and Archaeology; Geography and Administration of Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City; Trading Port, Commerce and Services; Industry and Handicrafts; Vietnamese Currency; Culture of Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City; and Keepsakes of the Resistance, along with two spaces on the revolutionary struggle in the periods 1930-1954 and 1954-1975. The collection of metal coins from the feudal era contains more than 200 original pieces, spanning the reigns from Le Canh Hung (1740-1786) to Bao Dai (1926-1945), including bronze coins and silver ingots. The museum holds two national treasures: the printing mould for the 5-dong credit note of 1947, recognised in the seventh round under Decision 1821/QD-TTg of 24 December 2018; and the seal "Luong tai hau chi an", recognised in the eighth round under Decision 88/QD-TTg of 15 January 2020. Two things to know before you go. The secret bunker of Gia Long Palace is temporarily closed to visitors for reorganisation, according to the museum's notice of 26 December 2025, updated on 27 January 2026; the two rooms "Trading Port, Commerce and Services" and "Industry and Handicrafts" are also being reorganised. On the other hand, on 13 July 2026 the museum opened a new gallery, "Ho Chi Minh City - 50 years honoured and proud to bear Uncle Ho's name", made up of two parts, "A glorious journey" and "An integrated megacity - National driving force".

English text: machine translation from the Localis platform — proper names kept in Vietnamese.