Bosingak Belfry

A bell has hung at this corner of central Seoul since the fourteenth century, and its job was practical: it was struck thirty-three times at dawn to open the city gates and twenty-eight times at dusk to close them and start the curfew, and the whole walled capital ran on that signal. The pavilion has burned and been rebuilt repeatedly; the current structure dates from 1979 and the bell in it is a modern replacement, with the older bell now in the National Museum. The tradition that survives is the New Year: at midnight on 31 December the bell is rung thirty-three times by invited citizens and dignitaries, broadcast nationally, with tens of thousands of people filling the streets around Jonggak - it is the Korean equivalent of a countdown clock. There is also a daily ringing ceremony at midday most days with a guard demonstration. The rest of the time it is a pavilion on a busy corner, worth twenty minutes.

What you actually see

• The bell pavilion - the painted structure on the corner.
• The midday ceremony - the daily ringing and guard display.
• The New Year ringing - thirty-three strikes at midnight.
• The old city context - the point the gate signals came from.

When to go

Midday for the daily ceremony; 31 December for the New Year ringing, which fills the district and closes the roads. Otherwise it is a brief stop.

Honest expectations

The structure and the bell are modern replacements. Twenty minutes covers it outside ceremony times. New Year means enormous crowds and closed streets.

Nearby

Cheonggyecheon and Insadong are minutes away; Gwanghwamun Square is west.