Ancient cement tile floors at Museum of Art in the middle of Saigon

Ancient cement tile floors at Museum of Art in the middle of Saigon

If you are a cement tile lover and if you come to Hochiminh City (or Saigon as being called in the old days), this is the place you cannot miss: the Museum of Art, which used to be the villa of Chu Hoa family. The nearly 100-year-old encaustic cement tile floor in this villa will tell you the story of many generations of the Saigonese.

Located at 97 Pho Duc Chinh street, District 1, just about 200m from Ben Thanh market, the Museum of Art of Hochiminh city is an ancient villa of over 4,000 m2. This used to be the residence of Hua Bon Hoa (also called Chu Hoa), a wealthy businessman in Saigon at the end of 19^th century.

Entering the villa, we were so surprised to see many encaustic cement tile floors in all the rooms. The guide in the Museum told us that all these floor tiles have been there since the beginning. Nobody knows exactly where the tiles were made, but it is said that Chu Hoa shipped them all the way from France.

The building was designed by a French architect named Rivera and was built in 1928. The architecture of the building is a combination of Western and Eastern style.

In 1975, Chu Hoa’s family migrated to another country. This building was taken over by the municipal authority and since then it has been used as the Museum of Art of Hochiminh city. At present, over 20,000 antiques of various generations are displayed here. The encaustic cement tile floors are still there, still charming and mysterious.

To our surprise, most of the tiles here are of small size, the majority is 14x14. All the patterns are very sophisticated. Double or triple borders are used to make the whole floor look like a carpet. Each floor has its own theme and seems to tell its own story.