Korea's Technological Connections to the Rest of the World: Gates

Gates never went through a significant technological revolution, a small percentage of all gates created by mankind represented significant events in human history, which is what they are remembered for- as well as their great size. Great gates symbolizing the achievements of a country or society can be found across the world- including South Korea today, which connects its technological icons with the rest of the world's.

The Dokripmun, Independence Gate, is the great arched gate of South Korea which can be found in Seoul, South Korea, was built to announce the country's independence under the constant harassment of Ching, China and Japan. 

The construction of Independence Gate began in 1896 and finished in 1897. During that time period, the fear of an annex of the country by either China or Japan. Unfortunately, Japan won the war of Ching-Japan War in 1896 and eventually annexed Korea in 1910. 

The gate still stands and today, but instead of standing for Korea's independence under chaos before the end of World War II , the gate symbolizes all the hardships Korea undergone in order to become completely independent from foreign countries after Japan's surrender in World War II and their withdrawal from Korea in 1945.

Arc de Triomphe, or the Arc of Triumph, stands as one of the most famous architecture of Paris, France. The arch was built to honor the fallen soldiers of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Underneath the arc lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers which hold all unidentifiable deceased soldiers from World War I.

The Arc's construction began in 1806 and was inaugurated in 1836. The arc itself was used as the root designs for the Independence gate of South Korea.

Last but not least, on the American side of the world, stands the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. This icon of Missouri was built o symbolize as a gate into the western territory during America's western expansion as it stands on the Mississippi River.

The construction of the metallic beast began on 1963 and was completed on 1965 after a slight struggle to conjoin the two parts of the superstructure into one when nature of the how summer hear bent the steel foundation and separated the two final tips off by a couple feet. Fortunately, when the engineers first recognized the flaw of their design, firefighters were ordered to hose down the two ends with a cold hose to keep the metal from bending and therefore, the arch was completed without any major problems.

Other than these three gates in Korea,France, and the United States, many other symbolic gates stand across the world. They were all built for different reasons, but overall, they were all built to commemorate the accomplishments of a society or to remember a day which would never be forgotten.