Korean's greatest treasure: 없다!
Everybody it Korea has already posted about this but for those of you who don't know Korean's greatest national treasure Namdaemun (남대문; 南大門) was destroyed by fire last night. The headline was 사라진 600년. It translates as the 600 years that disappeared. It seems a (drunk?) homeless man was at fault but nobody has been caught yet. The ironic thing is there is a security company here that advertises how good they are but showing all the important National treasures that they protect and Namdaemun figured prominantly. Whoops.
Quick history. Namdae mun means big south gate. When Seoul was a walled city there were 4 gates at the four points of the compass. Dongdeamun (east) and Namdaemun are/were still standing. (i cannot remember if Seodeamun is too but i don't think so) each of the gates had massive markets associated with it and near Namdeamun there is still a warren of merchants selling everything you can think of. It extends underground and is open 24 hours. Further Irony: maybe a year and a half ago a massive remodel was finished on Namdaemun and the surrounding area.
Quick history. Namdae mun means big south gate. When Seoul was a walled city there were 4 gates at the four points of the compass. Dongdeamun (east) and Namdaemun are/were still standing. (i cannot remember if Seodeamun is too but i don't think so) each of the gates had massive markets associated with it and near Namdeamun there is still a warren of merchants selling everything you can think of. It extends underground and is open 24 hours. Further Irony: maybe a year and a half ago a massive remodel was finished on Namdaemun and the surrounding area.