“an utterly unfortunate and unspeakably deplorable incident”
south korea’s number one national treasure was set on fire by a vengeful, angry fellow.
steve likens it to the statue of liberty going up in flames…
from the NYT article:
“Namdaemun, made of wood and stone with a two-tiered, pagoda-shaped tiled roof, was completed in 1398 and served as the main southern entrance to Seoul, which was then a walled city. It was the oldest wooden structure in Seoul, an iconic reminder of old Korea in this modern Asian city, the capital of South Korea, and a major tourist attraction. The site is surrounded by a bustling commercial district. Lately, homeless people had sought shelter there.
Namdaemun succumbed to the very thing it was designed to fight off, according to Korean legend: fire. Korean kings chose the site in the belief that the gate would protect the capital from the fiery spirit of a mountain south of Seoul, historians say.”
February 13th, 2008 at 4:19 am
it was all part of the search for the korean pbs (presidents book of secrets)
February 14th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
this bummed me out, but don’t be sad, there’s one more gate left in Seoul, called Dongdaemun (the Great Eastern Gate, with Namdaemun being the southern one) although it’s not as impressively located (Namdaemun is in this crazy traffic island between what might be something like ten lanes of traffic in a super metropolitan part of the city; Dongdaemun’s right by Chunggaechun, the wholesale district, and I think vehicle traffic passes on one side of it. I bought my hanbok right next to Dongdaemun!)
February 19th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
WHEW. at least there’s another gate left standing. thanks for the 411, hellen. us koreans hafta stick together.