Namdaemun Gate

Some my have heard, but last Sunday night, an arsonist burned down the South Gate in Seoul. Its a wooden and stone structure that was part of the wall that surrounded the city long ago. It was built in the 1300s and has survived several wars. It was declared Korea's #1 National Treasure. And now its gone. I wanted to see it burned. I saw it once a few months ago. Its pretty cool actually. So yesterday I went to pay my respects. So did the rest of the city. It was actually really sad. So many people were there just looking at it. There was a shrine set up with flowers, an old black and white photo and a board where people could write messages. People had also left booze and food for it, in case it was hungry or needed to get drunk. There were lots of TV cameras and a few Buddhist monks who were playing drums and flutes. I was looking at people closely, wondering if anyone was crying, but I saw no tears. The whole site is surrounded by temporary walls and only a small area has plexiglas so people can see in. There are tons of workers removing debris and lots of police standing guard. Two enormous cranes soar over the site also.

Who knows what they'll do with it. There is one other gate very similar to it in another part of the city. Its not like they can just rebuild it. Well they could, but its not the same.

Here are some photos: