The restoration of the panel on Gwanghwamun bearing the historic gate’s name is expected to be finished Saturday.

It will be shown to the public on Aug. 15, Korea’s Liberation Day, during the unveiling ceremony of the new Gwanghwamun.

Oh Ok-jin, master engraver and Intangible Cultural Property No. 106, announced on Tuesday that he had completed engraving each of the three Chinese characters for “Gwang-hwa-mun” on the name panel.

Together, these three characters carry the meaning, “Bestowing the great virtues of a king upon the nation and its people.”

“The panel will be attached to Gwanghwamun on July 31 after receiving final Dancheong touches,” said an official from the Cultural Heritage Administration. Dancheong is the traditional multicolored paintwork on wooden buildings.

“But the signboard will be covered with fabric until Aug. 15 because the day is when the restored Gwanghwamun will be officially open to the public for the first time,” he added.

This new name panel, a restored version of the original signboard that was written by Lim Tae-young, head of the Gyeongbokgung reconstruction team and general in 1867, will replace the former one with former president Park Chung-hee’s handwritten Hangeul letters on it. This change is part of the Gwanghwamun restoration project that started in 2006.

The gate has more than 600 years of a stormy history. It was first built in the beginning of the Joseon dynasty during the reign of Taejo, Joseon’s first king, as the main gate of his palace, Gyeongbokgung.

Gwanghwamun, which has been under restoration since 2006, will be unveiled on Aug. 15, Korea’s Liberation Day.                                                                                                 Yonhap News

But it was burnt down during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. Although it was rebuilt under the orders by Heungseon Daewongun in 1864, it was moved to make room for the Japanese Government General during Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.

Gwanghwamun was burnt down once again during the Korean War and was reconstructed during the Park Chung-hee government but in a modified way. The current project aims to recover Gwanghwamun’s original form.

Oh is following four steps to recreate the signboard as close to Lim’s as possible, based on a photo from the early 20th century that the National Museum of Korea restored in 2005.

First, five to six professional calligraphers meticulously revised the letters on Lim’s signboard shown on the photo. Then the revised letters were enlarged, made into life-size prints and glued to the wood that would be the new name panel. Oh then engraved the letters in the wood.

These three steps took about 20 days. Now there only remains the final step: Dancheong.

The new signboard will be almost exactly the same as the original one in its size and material, said the officials.

Approximately 428.5 cm wide, 173 cm long with 54cm long wings on the bottom part and 110cm wings on both sides, the signboard is the same size as that of Park’s or Lim’s.

Geumgang pine, which was used to build palaces since the Joseon dynasty and is also assumed to have been the main material for Lim’s signboard, is used again this time.

Meanwhile, some Hangeul academies are still arguing through rallies and media that the characters on the new name panel should be in Hangeul and not in Chinese.

But the Cultural Heritage Administration is standing firm.

“It is a principle that the sign panel should be restored just like what it looked like when Gyeongbokgung was restored. This is the deliberation results from the Cultural Properties Committee,” said Kim Won-ki, head of the Administration’s royal Palaces and Tombs Division.

By Park Min-young  (claire@heraldm.com)