At the end of the 18th century, Ben Nghe River had a river wharf near Gia Dinh citadel (Bat Quai citadel) so it was called Ben Thanh. The market area nearby (next to the river, at the beginning of Nguyen Hue and Ham Nghi streets now) was also called Ben Thanh market. In 1859, the French occupied Gia Dinh citadel. Two days later, the market was burned. In 1860, Ben Thanh market was rebuilt with brick pillars, wooden frames, and thatched roofs deep in Cho Vai canal (now Nguyen Hue street) instead of being located on the river wharf like the old market. Because Ben Thanh market was degraded, in 1912, the French built a new Ben Thanh market at its current location (in District 1, bordered on four sides by Le Thanh Ton, Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chu Trinh, and Le Loi streets) with an area of about 13,000 m2. At this time, Ben Thanh market was identified as the central market of Saigon, even the whole South when on the side of the market there were two bus stations going to the East and the West.
Sketch by artist Ho Hung
Architect Tran Vo Lam Dien
Architect Dang Phuoc Tue
The market has 4 main gates and 12 side gates. The main gate of Ben Thanh market is the South gate, above which is a clock tower (inside is the market management office, there is a shrine to the Market God to meet the spiritual needs of traders). In 1952, on the 4 main gates East, West, South, North, each gate was attached 3 ceramic reliefs of southern products: bunch of bananas, stingray, cow, Muscovy duck... created and crafted by artist Le Van Mau and ceramic artisans of Bien Hoa Fine Arts Workshop.
Architect Bui Hoan
Architect Bui Hoang Bao
Sketch by artist Tran Quang Thoai
Sketch by Khanh Van - student of Nguyen Tat Thanh University
Sketch by Pham Ngoc Huy - student of Danang University of Architecture
Ben Thanh Market has been rated by many prestigious foreign magazines (USA Today, Food and Wine...) as one of the markets with the best cuisine in the world .
Sketch by artist Doan Quoc
Row of kiosks at the North Gate - sketch by overseas Vietnamese artist Vicent Monluc
Sketch by Thai artist Sutien Lokulpraki
Before 2014, in front of the main gate of Ben Thanh market there was a park and a statue of Tran Nguyen Han and a statue of Quach Thi Trang - Sketch by Architect Nguyen Khanh Vu
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