Few people know that Chi Hoa prison is the only project in District 10 that is recognized as a historic work in the inventory of historical, cultural, and scenic relics in Ho Chi Minh City.
Ho Chi Minh City police are moving the headquarters of the detention center (Chi Hoa prison) to the new detention center in Cu Chi district. Chi Hoa Detention Center exists in Ward 12, District 10 (Ho Chi Minh City), today is also known as Chi Hoa prison or many people called Chi Hoa prison, Bat Fuck prison. Chi Hoa prison is one of 28 structures, locations and the only one in District 10 of its historical type. Inventory checklist of historical – literary h oh yeah and scenic spots in the area of Ho Chi Minh City in the period 2016-2020 (issued according to Decision No. 923 / QD-UBND dated March 7, 2017 of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City). Therefore, “the treatment of works on the relic inventory will be like treatment of relics that have been ranked” – Mr. Hoang Nghi, Head of Cultural Heritage Management Division, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Information, said. 
Chi Hoa prison viewed from above. Photo: WIKIPEDIA After the detention center of the Ho Chi Minh City Police has moved to Cu Chi district, what will be the fate of Chi Hoa prison remains an open question. However, those who are interested in the fate of Ho Chi Minh City’s architectural, cultural and historical works will not want this work to be lost, but hope it will be in a planning direction with respect. important to the past and continue to develop with green space, good infrastructure … “Living like a great apartment building” According to records from Inventory checklist of historical – literary h oh yeah and scenic spots in the area of Ho Chi Minh City in the period 2016-2020 , Chi Hoa prison used to detain communist soldiers, students, intellectuals … fighting for the unification of the country through two resistance wars against French colonialism and American imperialism. According to the Assfir a Culture Releases HCMC (Episode III – Art), “Xam Chi Hoa was built by the Japanese in 1943 to help the French build. The building is as high as a multi-storey building, surrounded by a concrete wall, on an octagonal surface, Opened the courtyard divided into cells by each cell area, with the corridor running around, solid bars. The prison can hold between 2,000 and 7,000 prisoners, serving as a grand apartment building. The building has no aesthetic value, but please note it here for another type of administrative architecture ”. According to the book Portraits of death row inmates , in the period from 1858 to 1975, Volume I: Some communist soldiers were sentenced to death, imprisoned through many prisons … including examination of Chí Hòa. In particular, in addition to the politics of offenders about to execute death sentences, this is the place to detain politicians with a sentence of 15 years to life in prison before exile to Con Dao. In the book Prison days , author Han Song Thanh and The History of Southern Women, edited the Chi Hoa examination and the events here: “Until 1950, Chi Hoa examination was completed. Starting from there, the French colonialists abandoned Catina examination. All the prisoners in Catina were transferred to Chi Hoa… The 1st floor has four rooms to hold political women offenders… ”. Chi Hoa’s search was the place where Nguyen Van Troi was imprisoned and executed in 1964. At the time of Nguyen Van Troi’s detention, this prison was called Chi Hoa Police Department. 
Entrance to Chi Hoa detention center. Photo: PV Connecting green space Chi H burst out – Ky H burst out Chi Hoa prison is currently a publicly owned project, but with a special mark of the work on history, architecture, culture, architect Ngo Viet Nam Son said: “If you change the prison to another area You should use Chi Hoa prison as a public facility to benefit the people ”. According to architect Ngo Viet Nam Son: “In terms of architectural value, this work is quite special because of the prison architecture, but it is a special architectural form from the French period with materials and construction bearing marks. press history. The layout of the prison is said to follow the octagon pattern, with feng-shui elements … this needs to be studied again; but it must be confirmed that this is a special project with its own special characteristics. Such a form may not be a relic but is a part of the development of urban architecture in Ho Chi Minh City. So it might not be about preserving the status quo, but embellished, changing the purpose of use, maybe a museum or something like we have Con Dao prison. As far as the prison Alcatraz on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco has been turned into a tourist island where the prison is a tourist attraction ”. Japan turns the oldest prison into a hotel Nara Prison (Nara Prefecture, Japan) is Japan’s oldest prison, built during the Meiji period (1901) and opened from 1909 until 2017. Since closing, no longer function of prison, Nara prison is recognized as a historical heritage of Japan. And after being recognized the heritage, the prison is being converted into a hotel to develop tourism in Nara Prefecture while still retaining this architectural complex. Because from 2018 up to now, Japan is focusing on preserving and developing many architectural, cultural and historical works of the Meiji period and turning it into new destinations. The five red brick buildings with Roman architecture of the Nara prison will be renovated into a high-class hotel that is earthquake resistant and is expected to open this year. The investment fund to renovate the prison into a hotel is expected to be worth 15 billion yen (more than 3,100 billion dong). In addition, Chi Hoa prison is one of the rare places in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City that still has space to add more green space to the inner city. “Since before 1975, stretching from Chi Hoa to Ky Hoa was a large, continuous green space. Although some spaces are currently encroached upon, we can still renovate this space into a suitable public center for everyone in the direction of green development, reducing the use of personal vehicles in the center … Along with that , in addition to cultural and architectural factors, it is also necessary to recognize the intangible value of Chi Hoa prison, considering which in history there are any characters who have been detained here, it is a partial recognition history of Ho Chi Minh City ”- architect Ngo Viet Nam Son said.
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