HISTORY OF "BOT CATINAT" - SAIGON

Catinat Street seen from Notre Dame. Photo taken at the end of the 19th century, a small fountain in the position that later erected statues of Bishop Ba Da Loc and Prince Canh. The two buildings on both sides of Catinat Street have similar architecture, symmetrically through Catinat Street. 

View from the church bell tower. At this time, on the park of Notre Dame Cathedral, there was a statue of Bishop Ba Da Loc (the statue was inaugurated on March 10, 1902, under Governor General Paul Doumer).

Photo in the same collection of F.H., Schneider. Catinat Street seen from the church bell tower. The house on the left of the photo has a veranda protruding from the fence on Taberd Street (present-day Nguyen Du).

The house on the left in the previous photo, address 164 Catinat, is the Tax Department. Research in the yearbook of Dr. Nguyen Duc Hiep shows that this address is recorded as Recette locale in the years 1905-1906, and Receveur spécial from 1907-1911, from 1912 onwards is “Trésor public” (Treasury).

Across the street, 225 Catinat, is the tresorier payeur residence. Thus, the two buildings at the end of Catinat Street can both be called Tresor Public because one is to receive money and the other to manage the treasury. 

Catinat Street with two symmetrical buildings. The electric pole is changed, the foot of the pole is casted with reinforced cement.

In 1917, when the new treasury was built on Charner Avenue, the French colonial government arranged for the Cochinchina Secret Service and the Central Police Department to use this work. Because they are located on Catinat Street, people often call these two agencies "Bot Catinat" - Police Station. 

Bot Catinat had a cellar deep underground, large and small cells where French secret police kept many political prisoners. Bot Catinat is notorious for being evil, the Viet Minh or the suspect, when arrested, are brought there to torture, exploit, make a record and then take it to the Big Chamber. Because it is located next to Notre Dame Cathedral, Saigon people sarcastically call: "Next to heaven there is hell".

Bot Catinat in 1948. When the Japanese coup d'etat France in Indochina, the statue of Bishop Ba Da Loc was taken down and brought back to France.

After 1954, the notorious colonial-era Catinat camp was used by the Saigon government as the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior. Photo taken in 1967, at this time the square in front of Notre Dame Cathedral was named Kennedy Square. You can see the words Ministry of the Interior at the gate of the building on the left. The building on the right is unchanged from before, it is used as the headquarters of the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Overview of Dong Khoi - Nguyen Du intersection.

Saigon Metropolitan sprang up.

After 1975, the building 164 Dong Khoi was used as the headquarters of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City. Currently, a real estate project of more than 7,000 billion has been approved on this golden land.

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