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Sungnyemun, the historic Seoul city gateway Koreans regard as their No. 1 national treasure, will reopen to the public in April for the first time after it was seriously damaged in an arson attack in 2008. / Yonhap |
By Kim Tong-hyung
Five years and two days ago, on Feb. 10 2008, Sungnyemun, the historic Seoul city gate that Koreans consider their No. 1 national treasure, burned through the night as people helplessly watched on.
A team of high-profile architects, carpenters and historians has since been deployed to rebuild what had been the city's oldest surviving wooden structure. After a painstaking half-decade that cost the country 24.5 billion won (about $22 million), the experts are finally feeling comfortable because they have declared the project 95 percent complete.
But no matter how authentic the renovated Sungnyemun, which will open to the public in April, proves to be, it will be impossible to make up for the loss in the sense of heritage and cultural continuity. Softening the wounds in the collective memory will have to do.
''The project was not a reconstruction but a restoration. The gate's value as a national treasure is still intact,'' said Park Eon-kon, 71, architect and Hongik University professor who participated as an advisor in the Sungnyemun restoration project.
''It was fortunate that we had a wealth of knowledge about Sungnyemun, including old blueprints, academic studies and photos dating back to 1963 when the gate was designated as a national treasure,'' he said.
''The hardest part was keeping our attention to detail and making sure that the gate is restored through traditional methods. We used old hammers and chisels, so it took a lot of time and more people to do things such as cutting rocks. It would have been much easier if we used electrical tools but that wasn't the way we wanted to go.''
All it took was just one elderly man with mental health problems using two small lighters to destroy the gate, which crumbled like a cookie beneath the flames on national television. The fire damaged more than 90 percent of the original roof tiles and replacing 22,600 of those destroyed was a key part of the restoration.
The rebuilt Sungnyemun has sprinklers and closed-circuit televisions installed and a caretaker will be on site.
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