Damaging Heritage for Protection?
Part of Jongmyo Shrine Wall Demolished to Make Road for Fire Engine
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
An agency set up to protect cultural heritages demolished part of Jongmyo Shrine, the nation's oldest royal Confucian shrine here, to secure road space for fire engines. The shrine made the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1995.
Heritage preservers denounced the move, claiming it was done without sufficient research, while the Cultural Heritage Administration, which initiated the plan, said it was an ``inevitable'' decision.
The Cultural Heritage Administration spent 150 million won ($103,300) removing seven meters of the wall in October and built an emergency route for fire trucks in case of a fire in the Jongmyo Shrine. The road is to be completed by the middle of this month, the administration said.
Hwang Pyeong-woo, president of Korea Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute, said that the administration should have considered other ways instead of damaging the wall. ``Small-size fire trucks can enter into the shrine through the current front gate and there are many other fire-extinguishing devices available without damaging the wall. In this sense, the breakdown of the wall is just for administrative convenience.''
The maintenance office in Jongmyo said building the new emergency route was needed to swiftly access possible fires on the wooden structure built in 1394.
``The front gate is 3.4 meters in height. But it's impossible for a fire truck carrying sufficient water to enter the shrine through the gate because such fire trucks are usually four meters high. In addition, fires ablaze on wooden structures spread so fast that a small-size fire truck is simply not enough,'' said Choi Byeong-sun, an official of the maintenance office. ``We earned approval from the Cultural Heritage Administration and notified UNESCO of the plan in advance.''
``Following the fire at Sungnyemun in December, which destroyed the Nation's No. 1 treasure, there have been growing calls for setting proper measures against fire. This is part of it,'' said Lee Sang-hyun, head of the maintenance office of Jongmyo.
Jongmyo Shrine is one of the oldest and most authentic of the Confucian royal shrines to have been preserved. Dedicated to the forefathers of the Josun Kingdom (1392-1910), the shrine has existed in its present form since the 16th century and houses tablets bearing the teachings of members of the former royal family.