More about the Gate

Photo by Bang Ho Seok

The Korean National Treasure which burned down on Sunday is called "Soong-yeh-moon"--I'm ignoring all rules of romanization and even the phonetics is a bit iffy--also known as the South Gate (Nam-dae-moon). It was first built during the late 14th century, with additional construction in the 15th.

Photo by George Rose, 1904

Not only the southern entrance to the old city of Seoul, it had a sort of feng shui role to fight the fire energy of the mountain south of the city; which is why it was named as it was--using characters resembling fire--and the sign was written vertically, since flame burns upward.

from http://kr.blog.yahoo.com/bluekingkongsay/3253

The sign, though a bit damaged, was saved (a small bit of fortune, I suppose) as itself is a Treasure, said to have been penned by King Sejong's (the most revered king of Korea) older brother who was known for his calligraphy.
The Gate survived 600 years, through multiple battles with the invading Japanese, as well as the Korean War. And now, gone. Some people say a wail was heard from the Gate as it burned, and that it seemed to struggle to keep standing for as long as possible before finally succumbing to the flames. Probably all imagined by superstitious Asian people, but it shows how Koreans thought of its presence. Of course, there is enough data to rebuild it - but it wouldn't be the same. The Gate has already given up the ghost.

Photo courtesy of Yonhap News