Statues at the Opera House

In 1967, to honor its military strength (and its power), the government of the Republic of Vietnam built a nine-meter-tall stone Marine with a gun-holding posture towards the Lower House (fig. 1). The contemporary public opinion considered it a bad omen when the army "pointed a gun" at the National Assembly. This statue was toppled on April 30, 1975 - Southern Liberation Day (Wikipedia 2022) (figs. 2 and 3). 

In 1997, on the occasion of the 300th year of Saigon's foundation, the City Council built a new statue in front of the building (fig. 4). This monument is called "Mom-and-son love", made by Nguyen Quoc Thang - former Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts. The statue is made of red granite, size 2.6 meters, and a pedestal of black granite with a red border, 2.40 meters high. Like its name, this statue aims to show "the image of two affection mother and child, a mother always protects her child" - stated by the sculptor Nguyen Quoc Thang (tuoitre.vn 2005). Currently, this statue has been removed to serve the construction of public transport works (Wikipedia 2022). 

In addition, in the same year 1997, two small statues of the Opera House were built, two small statues: one side is a boy playing the flute, and the other side is a girl playing the violin (Fig. 5). Neither of these statues has nameplates or any other information, and even their ages and national characteristics are unclear. The most striking thing is that they are playing musical instruments, so it is reasonable to assume that the two statues contribute to the message of the building's purpose – being a theater, a place for entertainment and culture. These two statues still exist to this day. 

References: 

Tuoitre.vn. 2005. "Bản quyền tượng." Tuổi Trẻ Online.  Last modified June 10, 2005 (29 May 2022).

Wikipedia. 2022. “Nhà hát Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh.” Last modified January 27, 2022  (29 May 2022).