About Notre Dame de Paris and Sungnyemun

Like many people, I woke up this morning to the sad news of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris being engulfed in flames. This is a shock not only in France but also all around the world. In South Korea, the media have extensively covered the event, and president Moon Jae-in has expressed support on Twitter in a heartfelt message that I personally find level-headed and much more appropriate than that of the American president suggesting flying water tankers should be used (although Paris firefighters have explained this would be the last thing to do), but I digress...

I think Koreans can actually relate to the feelings of French people even more since this tragedy echoes one that they went through in 2008, when one of Korea's cultural landmarks was destroyed by fire. Sungnyemun  is Korea’s National Treasure No. 1 (from a list of about 320 entries ). It's also known as Namdaemun (South Great Gate), and is one of the four Great Gates of Seoul (North, South, East, and West), which were built in the late 14th century. 

Sungnyemun

Unfortunately, as I said, in February 2008 Sungnyemun went up in flames, in a national tragedy not unlike the one in France today. To make things worse, the fire in Seoul was started by an arsonist engaged in a land compensation dispute with the government, which made the loss of this national treasure even more senseless. As far as I know, the French authorities so far believe that the Notre Dame fire was accidental. 

Korea's Cultural Heritage Administration has reacted to the Notre Dame fire referring to that 2008 tragedy : "On behalf of the South Korean government, the Cultural Heritage Administration  expresses deep regret for the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral. South Korea has nearly suffered a loss of precious cultural property due to the fire at Sungnyemun Gate." But it doesn't stop here, as the Cultural Heritage Administration has said it will carry out inspections of cultural assets like wooden buildings, palaces, tombs and temples. It looks like the Paris fire has rekindled bad memories here.

As for Sungnyemun, it was rebuilt in about five years, and it was officially reopened in May 2013:

It may be longer than that before we can see similar celebrations on the forecourt of Notre Dame, but I'm confident that the cathedral will eventually look as good as it did when Her and I visited it two years ago, or when I last saw it in July last year.

 

Notre Dame - May 2017

Notre Dame - July 2018