This is my friend's interesting experience! I like this story of his... he says:
My recent visit to Yeoju to (try to) see the tomb of King Sejong the Great made me aware that today is Hangul Day in Korea….the day when we stop to remember SJ, who promulgated the Korean alphabet 553 years ago…I looked at the Korea Herald online and realized something big was happening downtown…Sejongno, the broad avenue that leads to Gwanghwamun Gate and the royal palace, was the place to be….so after work, I went down into the subway….an absolute crush of humanity, especially where Line 2 merged with Line 3…another transfer at Line 5, then I got to my destination…what did I see?
The old statue of Admiral Yi-Sun Shin had always looked a bit forlorn…in the middle of a construction site, fenced off…weeds growing around him, etc…well, this was a major project years in the making….first of all, the admiral is no longer alone….another one has been erected a few hundred yards away, both of them facing the palace…it is, of course of Korea’s greatest king…sitting on his throne, symbolically handing the new alphabet to the people….hundreds of little fountains spewing water into the air…representations of a water clock, a sundial, a rainfall gauge and a celestial globe, all of which are attributed to Sejong, are placed nearby….and that’s not the half of it because you can go down some stairs to a big new museum that is completely dedicated to him and his achievements
The area is now called Gwanghwamun Plaza…
I visited down there and was handed an MP3 to tell me (in English) about every point in the museum, which was packed…there were some people playing pansori, the ancient Korean music…back upstairs, music of a different kind could be heard as a concert was underway across the street…
Earlier in the day, President Lee Myung-Bak had been here to speak and help unveil the statue…there was a plaque dated 10/9/09…I stayed a little over an hour before heading home….starting to get cool these days and nights….so glad I went…surely not everything is perfect, yet I realized once again how fortunate I am to be living in this big, dazzling and historic city.
The old statue of Admiral Yi-Sun Shin had always looked a bit forlorn…in the middle of a construction site, fenced off…weeds growing around him, etc…well, this was a major project years in the making….first of all, the admiral is no longer alone….another one has been erected a few hundred yards away, both of them facing the palace…it is, of course of Korea’s greatest king…sitting on his throne, symbolically handing the new alphabet to the people….hundreds of little fountains spewing water into the air…representations of a water clock, a sundial, a rainfall gauge and a celestial globe, all of which are attributed to Sejong, are placed nearby….and that’s not the half of it because you can go down some stairs to a big new museum that is completely dedicated to him and his achievements
The area is now called Gwanghwamun Plaza…
I visited down there and was handed an MP3 to tell me (in English) about every point in the museum, which was packed…there were some people playing pansori, the ancient Korean music…back upstairs, music of a different kind could be heard as a concert was underway across the street…
Earlier in the day, President Lee Myung-Bak had been here to speak and help unveil the statue…there was a plaque dated 10/9/09…I stayed a little over an hour before heading home….starting to get cool these days and nights….so glad I went…surely not everything is perfect, yet I realized once again how fortunate I am to be living in this big, dazzling and historic city.
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