The Gia Đình Fine Arts Practising School (L’ecole des Arts Appliques de Gia Dinh) was founded as The Design School (L’ecole de Dessin) on 14 October 1913 by Mr L’Helgoache and Mr Garnier, but changed names many times throughout its life. Andre Joyeux, a civil engineering architect, was appointed the school’s first headmaster until 1921. It was established in Gia Đình, an old municipality of Saigon until the city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City on 2 July 1976. In 1954, artists that remained in South Vietnam after the Geneva Accords agreed to build a fine arts college campus by the side of Gia Đình Fine Arts Practising School, which became the Saigon Fine Arts College. The two schools ran parallel to each other – many students who graduated Gia Đình moved on to study at the Saigon Fine Arts College – until June 1975 when they were merged into one school teaching different courses. It was then named the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts College until 1981, when it became, and is still known as, the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts University.
