Hồ Chí Minh City Museum is housed in the beautiful Gia Long Palace, a colonial building constructed between 1885 and 1890 to a design by French architect Alfred Foulhoux, who also designed the High Court. It was originally intended to display items from Nam Kỳ (the former name of South Việt Nam), but the Governor of Nam Kỳ decided to use it as his residence. During World War II the building became the residence of Japanese Governor Minoda and later it served as the office of the Nam Bộ Provisional Administrative Committee (1945), the office of the Republic of France High Commissioner and latterly the residence of the Governor of Nam Kỳ. In August 1978 the building was converted into the Hồ Chí Minh City Revolutionary Museum. The museum contains artefacts and displays which trace the development of southern Việt Nam from the prehistoric period to the present day. Important collections include valuable relics of the Óc Eo-Funan civilisation, artefacts from the feudal kingdoms and items relating to the founding and growth of the southern capital over a period of 300 years, including those related to the invasion of Việt Nam by French colonialists, the founding of the Việt Nam Communist Party, the anti-French resistance in Sài Gòn-Gia Định (1945-1954), the anti-American movement, the national resistance of Sài Gòn-Gia Định and the Hồ Chí Minh Campaign. The Museum also incorporates an exhibition room dedicated to the art of the southern popular theatre genre cải lương, which presents the history and development of the art form from its roots at the start of the 20th century as an offshoot of nhạc tài tử (literally 'amateur music'), featuring displays of costumes worn by famous performers, traditional instruments used in the cải lương orchestra and life-like clay models of actors performing in famous cải lương plays such as Đời cô Lựu ('Ms Lựu's Life') and Khi người điên biết yêu ('When Mad People Know How to Love').