NHA RONG WHARF

A Place To Imprin

Nha Rong Wharf is one of the famous landmarks with great significance in the history of Vietnam. It was the place where Uncle Who began his 30-year journey to find a way to save the country for the nation. The Saigon travel tour has a lot of interesting things and places waiting for you to discover, in which the Nha Rong Wharf is not to be missed.

In the past, Nha Rong Wharf was the headquarters of the Saigon trading port, built by the French in 1863. After the war ended, this building was assigned to the South Vietnamese government to manage and they rebuilt the construction. Nha Rong wharf was built in the middle of 1862 and completed in 1863 with Western architecture, but on the roof, there are two dragons with their heads attached to the moon so it is called Nha Rong which means Dragon House. In 1870, the Imperial Shipping Company (Hotel des Messageries Impériales) changed to the Maritime Shipping company (Messageries Maritimes).

History of Nha Rong Wharf

After invading Cochinchina, the French military governors decided to build the Saigon commercial port (Port de Commerce de Saigon) to serve as a hub for international trade. The construction of the port was entrusted to the shipping company Messageries impériales. The first docks were built at Ben Thanh, near the Saigon Navy Yard (arsenal de Saigon), in nearly a year.

To facilitate the management of the port, on March 4, 1863, the headquarters building of Messageries Maritimes was also built to serve as a residence for General Manager and a place to sell train tickets. The construction was carried out by an official named Domergue.

In October 1865, the company erected an additional 40m high steel flagpole (mât des signals) at the base of the former Thu Ngu palace to signal ships entering and leaving the port.

In 1893, the Messageries Maritimes building was equipped with electric lights, using 16-candle light bulbs, flickering brightly, far behind the kerosene lanterns that the capital city had tested on Catina Street (now Dong Khoi Street).

Near the end of 1899, the company was allowed to build a dock. The wharf was thickly boarded, and placed on iron posts along the river bank. This wharf is 18 meters from the other. The width of each berth inward to the shore is 8 meters. From the shore to the wharf there is a bridge 10 meters wide. Initially build two berths and then build a third berth.

In 1919, the company was allowed to build a berth with reinforced cement, but it could not be done until March 1930.

After 1955, the Vietnamese government restored the roof of the house and replaced the two old dragons with two other dragons with their heads turned out. In 1965, the building was used by the US military as the headquarters of the US Military Aid Receiving Agency. After 1975, the building was under the management of the Vietnam Maritime Administration.