My Sassy Girl|Paldalmun — The South Gate the Fortress City Still Opens On

Paldalmun is the south gate of Hwaseong Fortress, Treasure No. 402, sitting in traffic at the foot of Paldalsan. The name means the roads run in every direction. Jeongjo's engineers cut a stone arch wide enough for a royal palanquin and built a two-storey pavilion on top, then wrapped the outside in a semicircular ongseong so an attacker could not rush the door.

My Sassy Girl's Joseon is a city, not a sealed set. The scholar Gyeon-woo lives among bookshops and alleys. The princess keeps leaving the palace to look for her mother. Paldalmun is the gate that still opens that city onto the fortress. From here the walk north reaches Haenggung in a few minutes.

Stand under the wooden upper storey and look through the arch. Buses and taxis use the modern road that now splits around the gate. The stone does not care. Climb the wall walk if the ticket booth is open and look back at the pavilion roof against the hill.

This is the first building a visitor from Suwon Station meets. It is also the last civic gate the drama's street world would have used.