In pictures: Home of scholar Vuong Hong Sen

VOV.VN -Twenty years after his death the home of scholar, author and avid antique collector Vuong Hong Sen still stands intact with its unique structure and beautifully embossed exterior.

Born in the southern Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, Vuong moved any times during his lifetime.

In 1947 he purchased this 100-year-old plus house at 9/1 Nguyen Thien Thuat Street in Binh Thanh District, a home that was to shape his body and mind for all the years to come.

It was from here that he penned his many books including Saigon in the Years Far Past, Book Collecting Passion, Memoir on a 50-Year Love of Songs, and Old and New Smartness.

He was devoted to his hobby of collecting antiques and revelled in displaying them here.

This was also the place where local intellectuals and artists gathered to talk about literature as well as cultural and social issues of the day.

The house has been the subject of a great deal of attention over the years having been featured in such prestigious magazines as Time and Newsweek.

In 1996, before he died, the scholar donated the house with all its antiques to the government as a gift for society.

He wanted the house to become a place where later generations of Vietnamese would get acquainted with antiquity though books, furniture and other memorabilia.

After his death, the antiques from his house were temporarily relocated to the Museum of History while the house is under renovation and converted into a museum.