Seoul, South Korea II

My guide book was summarily disappointed with the enclosure of this pagoda, but it better represents the merging of new and old in East Asia. In Tokyo and Seoul, between giant buildings are tiny temples, sometimes a single building with little surrounding land.

Apparently, this pagoda is quite old -- several hundred years. Amazing that it still stands in the center of Seoul. However, like most artefacts in Seoul, they have a long history of destruction, re-building, and moving. Japan makes no mention of moving their cultural artefacts, but every statue in Seoul claimed to have been moved many times. Perhaps Japan glosses over this point.