Korea’s number one national treasure, Sungnyemun, which was burnt down in 2008 is in the final stage of reconstruction. During the time of the recovery, a public program was held so that citizens can visit Sungnyemun and observe the reconstruction process. With the completion of recovery approaching, this public opening program met its end on Nov. 4, 2012.
During its operation, the program accepted up to 30 people at a time. It was held 6 times a day on the weekends. The program mainly consisted of explanation about Sungnyemun and the showing of a short video clip. These explanations were related to the history, reconstruction process and major structure of the castle. The processes were progressed by the instruction guides. People were able to view the main body of Sungnyemun near completion and some portions of the inside-framework. The guides were from the sponsor groups, ‘Seoul KYC’ and ‘The Rediscovery of Korea’ which are nonprofit organizations which support many programs and projects related to Korean cultural assets. In addition, there were assistant volunteers amongst Shinhan Bank workers who assisted the guidance through the structure.
Jo In-sook, a guide from Seoul KYC, answered “when I watch citizens voluntarily come to the site and participate actively like jotting down memos and taking photos, they show that they have a lot of interests in the tradition and culture of Korea, which makes the volunteer itself worthwhile,” when questioned about the personal merit she felt from the program. She also mentioned that many citizens including children, students, adults and tourists participated in this program even in the cold weather. Likewise, Lim Tae-hyun, a volunteer from Shinhan Bank, said she didn’t know people had the high level of interests in our historical legacy before starting this volunteering assistantship. Further, Hong Seong-ho, a Seoul citizen, remarked, “Experiencing the re-construction process of our national treasure not only strengthens the national pride of Koreans but also helps me appreciate the artistic delicateness of our ancestors.” He added that we must do our best efforts to preserve our cultural assets.
Even though the program has now ended, much of the information is still available on the Internet. With the downright support from the government, NGO, specialists, volunteer and intangible cultural asset possessors, Sungnyemun’s reconstruction will meet its successful completion in this forthcoming December.
