Independence Gate

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Independence Gate
Hangul:	독립문
Hanja:	獨立門
Revised Romanization:	Dongnimmun
McCune-Reischauer:	Tongnimmun

The Independence Gate is a memorial gate located in Seoul, South Korea. The gate was built to commemorate Korea's independence from Qing Dynasty. Its building was started on November 21, 1896, and finished November 20, 1897.

The gate measures 14.28 meters in height, 11.48 meters in width, and is made of approximately 1,850 pieces of granite. Its design modeled on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In 1979, it was moved from an original position to 70 meters northwest by rezoning.

In 1895, Joseon Dynasty of Korea became independent from Qing Dynasty when the Japanese Empire defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War. Japan made China relinquish its authority over Korea and renounce any claims to the country by the Treaty of Shimonoseki. After that, Korea demolished the Yeongeunmun Gate, which had been the symbol of the prevailing submissive diplomatic policy towards China, and built the Independence Gate. To raise funds for the building, the Independence Club collected contributions.

Nowadays, some people in Korea have the misconception that the gate commemorates the independence from Japan of 1945.^{[citation needed]}