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I read today that the 600 year old Seoul South Gate that has survived invasion and internal wars has burned down! I have attached some images below to show you what it looked like.

I saw that on Monday, apparently they think it was arson! It is such a revered building in South Korea that it makes you wonder what drives someone to do such a thing.

What might not have helped was the authorities apparently banning the firefighters from breaking in during the early stages of the fire, for fear of the damage they might do. A catch-22 situation me'thinks!

They are looking to renovate it, but frankly, there's not much left of the original wood to do much more than a Disney-esque re-creation. At least with the Cutty Sark, there was quite a lot of salvageable material.

Fortunately, in terms of possibly restoring it, it looks like there's bits left for reference and that it's been well-photographed in the past. From the aljazeera.net article:

South Korean police say they have arrested a 70-year-old man in connection with a devastating fire that destroyed one of the country's top historic treasures... Police said they found clothing and a bag nearby, as well as a bottle of paint thinner... Officials say the man in custody has admitted setting the gate on fire and was previously convicted of arson in another incident at a South Korean cultural site... Kim Young-soo, head of the Seoul police station handling the case, said the detained man was apparently angry over a land dispute with a development company, saying that he did not get enough compensation from the developer for his land.

... South Korea's cultural heritage administration has said it would take at least three years to fully restore the gate at a cost of some $21m.

I'm surprised at the sort of demographic the (suspected) arsonist came from, to say the least.

It saddens me that just one human being can devastate centuries of heritage for such a pathetic reason.

What happened to civilisation?