Why are all old villas painted yellow?

Do you realize that most of the old buildings in Hanoi are painted yellow?

Have you ever realized that many French buildings are built and many of the buildings after that are painted yellow? Why is it yellow and not another color?

Influence from French culture

1859 was the first milestone marking the official invasion of French colonialists into Vietnam. However, it was not until 1887 that the French conducted the first colonial exploitation process, in which many large cities in Vietnam were expanded and planned in the French style.

Since then, the influence of French architectural style is evident in every work on the streets.

Starting with materials, the French have replaced all traditional Vietnamese building materials such as bamboo, leaves, wood, bricks . by cement, iron and steel.

Besides the architectural influence there is a feature that most of the buildings built during this period are available - it is yellow paint.

The Hanoi Opera House headquarters is located at 42 Trang Tien, Hanoi.

Some people said that the paint of the yellow building had a purely artistic meaning. The French have carefully studied the climate characteristics of Vietnam, including the way the sun shines down in the fall.

The sun shines on the yellow buildings, giving the feeling of bringing a corner of Paris into the heart of the city . In addition, the climate characteristics of Vietnam are hot and humid, making the walls easy to grow moss. But in the colors, the yellow and the moss color combined with each other is . the worst, it brings the ancient features to the building.

Hanoi Opera House with typical yellow paint.

Another idea is that the French actively invested in cities, especially Hanoi, to show the face of government power.

In it, they chose the yellow as the royal color, symbolizing power - according to the conception of Asian countries such as Vietnam, China, and Korea.

Architectural works after the French colonial period

Even when the French army withdrew from Vietnam, the French architectural style was still very influential . Many buildings built by France are still preserved and used as administrative offices.

Therefore, many works built after this period such as schools and agencies . are still covered in yellow and bear the shadow of French architecture.

Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - formerly the Department of Finance of Indochina.

Hanoi University.

Besides, there are some opinions that the reason we choose yellow is because . paint color is limited.In this period, the usable color is not much, in which the two most commonly used colors are white lime and yellow lime because of the low price. That is why many buildings in this period have only two main colors.

Although the reason for painting is what we can not deny the image of the ancient villas or buildings painted yellow has imprinted on the memories, become a familiar image in the hearts of many Vietnamese people. now.

* Side on yellow:

In most cultures, yellow represents the Sun, for happiness and warmth.

Yellow is the most prominent color among the colors of the spectrum, so the danger warning signs in the world are painted yellow.