Time Stands Still at Huynh Thuy Le Mansion

Built more than a century ago and witnessing twists and turns of history, Huynh Thuy Le Mansion has still kept intact its East-West blended architecture combined with Chinese-style interior decoration adapted by Vietnamese southerners. That unique feature has given off an extraordinary attraction that has drawn hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, especially people from the Francophone community.

Huynh Thuy Le Mansion is located at 255A, Nguyen Hue Street, Ward 2, Sa Dec City, Dong Thap Province. In addition to two unique architectural styles, this place is famous for a borderless love story between a French girl (Marguerite Duras, a writer) and a wealthy Vietnamese-Chinese man (Huynh Thuy Le, son of the host) in the early 20th century. The then “Love Story” was later recounted by the author in L'Amant novel (The Lover).

In 1984, the novel was published and became a blockbuster, which was translated into 43 languages around the world and won the Prix Goncourt (the most prestigious literary award of France). In 1986, Director Jean-Jacques Annaud made the film of the same name and the Huynh Thuy Le Mansion was set as the main setting of the film.

The Huynh genealogy says that Mr. Huynh Cam Thuan, a famous and wealthy Chinese Fujian merchant in Sa Dec, built the mansion in 1895 in the heart of a bustling town along the Sa Dec River. At that time, this three-part house carried the distinctive residence style in the Southwest region of Vietnam. The 258-square meter dwelling house was built with precious timbers and roofed with yin-yang tiles. In 1917, the host overhauled it with solid bricks surrounding the inside wooden frame. Looking at the exterior, the house seems to be a Roman renaissance architecture in the 17th century, featured with arches, columns, patterns and reliefs. But, the inside still retains the Vietnamese traditional architectural style with three chambers.

In addition to the convenient location, the house also has other notable features: The floor of the middle chamber seems to be sunken. This is a deliberate construction of the host because, according to feng shui elements, wealth flows to the lower place. Another characteristic is the Guang Yu altar is placed in the middle of the main chamber as in Chinese beliefs.

Also according to feng shui geomancy, the layout of the motifs on the bar is “Dragon, Unicorn, Bat, and Phoenix”, not “Dragon, Unicorn, Turtle and Phoenix” as in Chinese cultural traditions. All implies the upper class of the Huynh family in the feudal society of that time. Later, his youngest son, Huynh Thuy Le, inherited the mansion. Since then, the house has been kept almost intact.

In early 2018, Huynh Thuy Le Mansion was assigned to Dong Thap Tourism Joint Stock Company for preservation. Since its takeover, the company has awakened hidden values of the ancient dwelling, created a fresh green space and adopted many solutions to prevent it from being degraded and to preserve this legacy.

The company has focused on training and improving service skills for its employees, from costumes, attentive attitude, thoughtful presentations and foreign language skills, to introduce the "soul" of the monument.

Mr. Le Hoang An, General Director of Dong Thap Tourism Joint Stock Company, said, enjoying the timeless values of the famous old house, the company is responsible for preserving and promoting its values. Introducing these to visitors, especially to cultural researchers, means that future generations can understand the values of cross interaction of cultures, societies, and economies in the Southern region at the beginning of the 19th century.

Not only being assigned to preserve the unique architecture of Huynh Thuy Le Mansion, Dong Thap Tourism Joint Stock Company is also entrusted with a greater mission of leading tourism companies in Dong Thap province. Its Bong Hong, Sao Mai and Song Tra hotels and convention - wedding centers, all upgraded to a 3-star class, have importantly helped the tourism sector of Dong Thap province to fly higher as springtime comes.

Hoang an