Iris|Gwanghwamun Plaza — The Square They Closed for Twelve Hours

On 29 November 2009 Seoul did something it had never done for a television crew. From seven in the morning until seven at night the city shut five lanes of Sejong-daero along Gwanghwamun Plaza so that NSS agents and the men hunting them could run a gunfight down the civic axis of the capital.

Iris needed the square that sits under King Sejong and Admiral Yi, with Gwanghwamun and the old presidential compound lined up behind them. Yonhap recorded the day in real time: a hundred and thirty vehicles, extras in the hundreds, police companies holding the perimeter, a last car explosion just before six. Kim So-yeon later said filming here felt like a dream. It was the first time the metropolitan government had given a drama the heart of the city for a full working day, and it did so as a tourism bargain. The plaza would travel with the series.

Stand on the stones now and the plaza is quieter than that Sunday. Buses move. Tourists photograph the statues. The square has been rebuilt since 2009, the lawns widened, the traffic pushed farther out. What has not moved is the line of sight. Face north and the gate still closes the view. Face south and the city opens. The drama used that line as a shooting gallery. You use it as a walk.

Come in the morning, before the tour groups pack the Sejong statue. The granite holds the night cold. That is the hour the crew started, and it is still the hour when the square belongs to whoever is willing to stand in it.