President Luong Cuong and Hungarian President Sulyok Tamas cut the ribbon to inaugurate the photo exhibition, May 28, 2025.

The exhibition presents the digital version of Dezso’s original photos, preserved by the Museum of Fine Arts Budapest – Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts. 

These rare images capture notable landmarks and areas of Saigon that remain today, such as Catinat Street (now Dong Khoi Street), the Botanical Gardens, the Saigon Opera House (now the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House), the majestic City Hall (now the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Headquarters), the Ben Nghe Canal, and Buddhist temples in Cho Lon. 

Bozoky Dezso served as a naval doctor in the Austro-Hungarian Navy. During a 16-month voyage across East Asia between 1907 and 1909, his ship docked on the Saigon River, giving him a chance to explore Saigon, the most important city in the region at that time, which is now Ho Chi Minh City.  

Offering a historical perspective, the photos serve as a rare window into the architecture, customs, and daily life of Vietnam more than a century ago - and are now being publicly displayed for the first time. 

President Tamas emphasised that the exhibition testifies to how the Hungarian and Vietnamese people came to know each other long before the establishment of official diplomatic ties.