Photo exhibition marking the August Revolution and National Day

   Along Đồng Khởi street, the one you probably walk past every week, the city has put up an open-air display covering the 81 years since the autumn of 1945. No ticket desk, no closing time, a few minutes on foot from Notre-Dame Cathedral, and it stays up until 5 September.

   This is the city-level exhibition in the programme marking 81 years since the August Revolution and National Day, run by the Department of Culture and Sports. It sets historical photographs and documents alongside material on how the city has grown since reunification.

   Three display areas across the enlarged city:

• — Chi Lăng Park on Đồng Khởi street, between Nguyễn Du and Lê Thánh Tôn, Sài Gòn ward
• — The park on Nguyễn Du street, Thủ Dầu Một ward
• — The Revolutionary Tradition House, 1 Ba Cu street, Vũng Tàu ward

   Beyond these three, photographs and documents are also shown locally: at culture houses and sports grounds in residential clusters, industrial parks and community spaces across wards, communes and the special zone. The city has additionally arranged a documentary display at the Book Street on Nguyễn Văn Bình, Sài Gòn ward, although dates for that part have not been announced.

   Why does the 81-year mark land so heavily in the south? The autumn of 1945 moved fast. On 19 August power passed to the people in Hanoi; on 25 August the uprising broke out in Saigon and across the southern provinces; on 2 September the Declaration of Independence was read on Ba Đình Square. Less than three weeks later, on 23 September, the south was at war again, the first part of the country to take up arms. The photographs on Đồng Khởi tell exactly that sequence.

   It suits an office worker stepping out at lunch, a family walking downtown after dinner, or a visitor trying to understand why this holiday has its own rhythm in Saigon. Evenings are the better call: the centre is lit, the large prints read clearly and the heat has dropped.

   If you are staying in town over the long weekend, give this row of photographs fifteen minutes before heading to Nguyễn Huệ walking street on the evening of 2 September.