Namdaemun is Korea’s 1st national treasure, and its original name is Sungnyemun. Namdaemun is the largest castle gate stone structure with an arched entrance in the middle. There’s a column on top of a platform, raising the roof, distinguishing the upper stories and lower stories of the building. A passageway for traffic is located at the east and west ends of the gate.
Different from the other gates, Namdaemun’s tablet has Sungnyemun written vertically. When the first king of Joseon Dynasty, Lee Seong-Gye (reign 1335-1408), had constructed the capital city, he believed that fire will reach to Gyeongbokgung Palace as well as the capital city as Mt. Gwanaksan of Seoul is shaped like fire according to feng-shui principles. Sungnyemun’s name means fire, which is from the harmony of the Five Elements and if written vertically, the Chinese character ‘fire’ looks as if it is providing protection. This was Taejong’s (1367-1422) first son, Yangnyeongdaegun’s (1394-1462) famous writing.
Unfortunately, Namdaemun was destroyed in fire on Feb 10th, 2008. It re-opened in May, 2013.
Address
29 Namdaemunno 4(sa)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Its just like traditional building in the middle of seoul modern building, its kinda unique but what you can do is just take a picture nothing else, ah not to mention only one way out that make you need to turn around after.
Niklas M
Another mix of modern and traditional architecture, just surreal and good to take pictures at.
Eka T
Even though it's the 1st National Treasure, there's no much thing to do here other than taking commemorative photo.