A spectacular lighting and music performance will wrap up French Year in Vietnam at the Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Minh City on December 13-14.
The 15-minute lighting show will highlight the architecture of the Reunification Palace and the Vietnamese countryside along with music performances. Artists of the Spectaculaires group, Allumeurs d’Images will use graphic innovations of Reunification Palace with musical synchronization to change the facade of the Reunification Palace for two nights.
The art of visual effects in motion pictures will give audiences an opportunity to enjoy the typical scenery of Vietnamese vegetation such as bamboo, rice paddy fields, lotus, etc. reflected on the surface of the Reunification Palace.
French musician/composer Orel and Vietnamese singer Le Cat Trong Ly will perform at the show.
The palace architecture was recognized in 1989 as a national historic relic. It sits on a 12-hectare site in the heart of the City bordered by Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Huyen Tran Cong Chua, and Nguyen Du Streets and surrounded by immense lawns and perennial trees.
It was built for the French governor of Indochina between 1865 and 1869 and designed by French architect Hermitte.
From 1954 to 1975, the Independence Palace, as it was called, was the home of some presidents of the Southern Vietnamese regime and their families.
In 1962 it was damaged by bombs but was reconstructed by 1966. Architect Ngo Viet Thu, the first Vietnamese laureate of the Rome Prize, designed a new palace. It consists of a five-storey building with 100 rooms and halls, each decorated in a different style.
After independence in 1975, its name was changed to Reunification Palace and has since become a historic monument attracting a large number of foreign and local visitors.
