Bishop's House of Buon Ma Thuot

In Vietnam, there are only two wooden churches, one of the two largest and most famous wooden churches is the Bishop's Palace of Buon Ma Thuot. This place is a monastery built by Ordo Sancti Benedicti-Order of St. Benedict. Then, to facilitate the development of the Order, the two Bishops of Kontum and Saigon agreed to send Sister Benedict back to Thu Duc, Saigon in 1966 to set up a new establishment here. The monastery was purchased by Bishop Paul Seitz Kim so that the parish priests of Ban Me Thuot turned it into a monthly meeting place, a management office and a resting place, preparing for the establishment of a new Diocese. On June 22, 1967, with the decree "Qui Dei Benignitate" establishing the Diocese of Ban Me Thuot by Pope Paulo VI, the house was given a new name: "Bishop Buon Ma Thuot Residence".

This is an ancient architecture built mostly of wood, roofed with fish scale tiles, on a large scale. The work has beautiful architecture and is imprinted with the traditional long house of the local Ede people, located in the middle of a large campus with many exotic flowers and plants designed and built by Catholic artisans.

The chapel of the Bishopric of Buon Ma Thuot was designed according to the Central Highlands ethnic architecture by the Austrian female architect Boni Pacxo. Built entirely of wood, tiled roof. The main part of the work is the chapel taken from the long stilt house of the Ede, other areas such as guest house, management house, house and activities are connected to the two sides of the chapel. The floor of the chapel is arranged with the main stairs, the main hall from the gable of the building is adjacent to the main door. Inside the chapel is divided into two parts, the front is the ceremony area for the parishioners, the back is the viewing area for the nuns. The separation between the two areas is the altar. The cross of the chapel was thus hung up so that it could be seen from opposite directions.

Because it is designed in the form of a long house, the ventilation and lighting for the inside of the building will be limited. Therefore, the solution to get light is given that the entire wall area of ​​the house is made of wooden frames, translucent glass arranged from floor to roof. The high roof is treated with lighting and ventilation by horizontal roof doors by changing the roof slope. Instead of creating triangular roof doors, the opening of horizontal roof doors allows light to be distributed more evenly, and at the same time does not break the roof form of the long house.

The bishop's house also has a bell tower designed in the image of the roof of the Central Highlands communal house - the roof of the communal house.

The Bishopric of Buon Ma Thuot is the common home of the Diocese, where Catholic activities of the Diocese take place. Every day, the chapel has a celebration celebrated. On festivals such as Easter, Christmas, Mass will be celebrated more. On the premises of the Bishop's Palace is the residence and activities of the priests in the diocese. There are retirement homes for retirees and diocesan churches and ministries.

For those who are photographers, architects or simply a lover of originality, the Bishop's Palace of Buon Ma Thuot will be an interesting place to visit.