Heunginjimun (Dongdaemun)

The great eastern gate of the old Hanyang fortress wall — this is Heunginjimun, commonly known as Dongdaemun.

It was built in 1396, the fifth year of King Taejo's reign, alongside the original city wall, rebuilt once in 1453, and the structure standing today dates to a further rebuild in 1869 under King Gojong. It's a two-story gate tower, five bays wide and two bays deep, topped with a trapezoid-shaped hip roof.

Its bracket work — supporting the roof not just above the columns but densely between them too — is a multi-cluster bracket style whose elaborate, delicate ornamentation is considered characteristic of late Joseon architecture. Outside the gate, a semicircular barbican (ongseong) built to protect the gate itself still survives, making Heunginjimun one of the better-preserved of the eight Hanyang fortress gates in terms of its defensive features.

Along with Sungnyemun (Namdaemun) to the west, it's one of the two gates most representative of Joseon-era Hanyang's fortress wall, and today it stands amid the bustling commercial heart of Dongdaemun Market and Pyeonghwa Market, a trace of the old capital in the middle of modern Seoul.

Open at all times, with no admission fee.