Ho Chi Minh Municipal Theater
7 Lam Son Square, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Phone: +84 8 3829 9976About
Ho Chi Minh Municipal Theater magnificent building was built at the turn of the 20th century as a classical opera house to entertain French colonists. The building was renovated in the 1940s, only to be badly damaged by bombers in 1944. A shelter for refugees after the Geneva Accord split the country at the 17th Parallel in 1954, the building would briefly house the parliament before falling under first private and, ultimately, state hands (after reunification) as an opera house and theater. There have been extensive renovations in recent years. The three-story interior houses some 1,800 seats. Today the Municipal Theater does very little in terms of performances, but it is a stalwart atmospheric holdout amid the rising steel-and-glass downtown.
