Sajikdan's damage cannot be explained as the natural disappearance of an old place. Colonial power terminated the ceremonies of the former Korean state and weakened the precinct's political meaning. Parts of the grounds became a public park, roads, and sites for other facilities, breaking the relationship between the altars and the buildings that supported them. The history of accessible urban greenery and the history of dismantled state ritual occupy the same landscape.
Conversion into a park changed meaning as well as access
Turning a ritual precinct into public recreation may increase everyday use while dissolving its ceremonial hierarchy and boundaries. Palaces and altars elsewhere in colonial Seoul were similarly recast as parks, exhibition sites, or tourist attractions. The apparently positive claim that “everyone could enter” does not by itself explain who held the power to redefine the place.
Roads and public facilities did not disappear immediately after liberation
As Seoul's population and automobile traffic grew, the area continued to serve transport and public-service needs. Relocating facilities that had become part of urban life and recovering land required lengthy negotiation, funding, and replacement space. The slow pace of restoration reflects conflicts between heritage and modern city functions, not a single story of indifference.
Restoration does not mean imagining old buildings on empty ground
Archaeological remains, historical maps, royal protocols, written sources, and photographs must be compared to judge location and scale. Specialists also decide which period to represent and which later traces to retain. Instead of dismissing all new timber and walls as fake, ask what is directly documented, what is reconstructed by comparison, and where uncertainty remains.