Few things can speak better about a nation than its historic relics. For Korea, a nation that has faced one invasion after another, many relics still remain damaged and displaced as testament to the toilsome path it has followed. As one such relic, Gwanghwamun, the main gate to the country's former royal palace in central Seoul, lost its glamor over the course of Japan's invasions and occupation and the Korean War. The gate now stands in the midst of one of the city's busiest intersections, some 10 meters away from its original location.
To right this historic wrong, Korea began demolishing the current gate on Friday and will replace it with a new one in its original shape in three years.
"We hereby like to mark this restoration project as a landmark event to continue Korea's history and spirit as Gwanghwamun is a symbolic asset that has been transmuted and deformed during the Japanese colonial occupation," Yoo Hong-jun, head of the Cultural Heritage Administration that runs the project, said at the ceremony before a crane took down the two ornamental heads from the top of the current gate.
Its history began as Taejo, the founder of the Joseon Dynasty (1392~1910), constructed the official Gyeongbok Palace and its four surrounding entrance gates as one of his first nation-building projects. The main gate at the front was named Gwanghwamun, meaning a gate where light spreads over the world.
Gwanghwamun suffered its first tribulation in the 1590s when Japan invaded Korea and destroyed its civilization through an eight-year war, including the royal palace and its gates. King Gojong rebuilt Gwanghwamun in 1867, but it took only decades for another historic calamity to knock it down.
After usurping Korea's royal throne and colonizing the country in 1910, Japan built its government office inside the palace. To the new Japanese office, the Gwanghwamun gate got in the way of its frontal view, so was displaced to a corner spot inside the palace.
The ordeals did not end even after the Japanese colonizers were evicted in 1945. As the Korean War broke out in 1950, the gate's wooden body was completely burned.
The South Korean government managed to reassemble the stone pedestal and reerected the gate in 1968, but the new position had to be 11 meters east and 14 meters behind its original location due to traffic. That incarnation was built using concrete, instead of wood, for the main body.
"Doing my restoration job, the most regrettable thing was Gwanghwamun, because it is the face of the Gyeongbok Palace," said Park Wang-hee, the heritage administration official in charge of the project.
"It was born along with Seoul as the capital of Joseon 600 years ago, but its fate was twisted and damaged by foreign forces.
Now with the restoration underway, it's like an old problem has just been solved," he said.
The demoltion ceremony also marked the date when the Joseon Dynasty broke ground for the construction of the Gyeongbok Palace on Dec. 4, 1394, the heritage officials said.
The Gwanghwamun restoration project came as part of Korea's efforts to reclaim its historic glory and shed the taint of the colonial past. The heritage administration demolished the colonial office building in 1996 which Japan had built inside the Gyeongbok Palace to govern the nation. It also launched a 20-year project to restore the lost halls and gardens of the palace in 1990.
Korea hopes the restoration efforts will qualify the ancient capital region as a UNESCO world heritage site. The area, centering on the Gyeongbok Palace, was built in a topographically favorable location with mountains to the north and the Han River to the south by the Joseon Dynasty, and is now a major tourist attraction.
Seoul, Dec. 4 (Yonhap News)
S. Korea begins demolishing royal palace gate to right a historic wrong |
