Goodbye, Old Friend
What words? My wife and I both feel as if an old friend we’d meant to visit again had been murdered, stolen from us by a deranged killer, a thief of beauty and history. Anyone who has lived in Seoul recently knows that it can and will be rebuit with faithful perfection. But like the Golden Pavillion of Kyoto, which I would not call Namdaemun’s equal, it will be never be the same, either.
As many have already noted, Namdaemun was National Treasure Number One, the first thing any Korean or visitor to Korea would remember as the symbol of that country and its capital. Even the war did not destroy it. Bulguksa and the Suwon City Wall might have exceeded Namdaemun in size, but Namdaemun’s greatness was in its stature, in the way that everything that swirled around it and grew above it still stood back and faced it with reverence.
When I first visited Seoul last July I saw NamDaeMun from a moving bus. I promised myself that I would visit NamDaeMun up close during my vacation. As with all vacations, time ran out. So I said to myself: “Next time.” A valuable lesson to myself and to travelers everywhere: When you are on vacation you should visit any and all places of interest without any hesitation. You never know when you will go back, and what will remain unchanged.
Joshua: I agree that NamDaeMun will be reconstructed with “faithful perfection.” And the sooner, the better.