Painted dragon; ceiling detail of Sungnyemun (Namdaemun), the 610-year-old Great Southern Gate marking the entrance to Seoul.
Sadly, this structure was lost to fire on 11 February 2008.
Details of the event:
A taxi driver passing by on the road next to Sungnyemun witnessed smoke rising from the left side of the fortress gate as about 20:50pm in Sunday, Feb,10, 2008. He called 119 to report the fire. It turned out that a 69-year old man, dissatisfied with the compensation he had received for some property, had set the fire intentionally at 20:47pm , gaining access by climbing over the wall at the side of the fortress gate using a ladder and then sneaking up to the second level of the fortress gate. He placed 1.5 liter containers of paint thinner on the floor by the third central column of the fortress, distributed the contents of third container across the floor ranging from the west side doorway to the east side doorway and set it ablaze with a butane lighter. He then fled. Property damage amounting approximately 10 Billion won was incurred before the fire was extinguished at 02:05am.
Source taken by National Emergency Management Agency, South Korea
Nurul Syazwani Sohahuddin
June 12, 2012 12:09PM
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