Northwestern Watchtower of Hwaseong Fortress, Suwon

It stands beside Hwaseomun Gate at Hwaseong Fortress and was built in 1796, the 20th year of King Jeongjo. The Northwestern Watchtower — a gongsimdon, a hollow-interior watchtower built for garrisoning troops — projects from the northwestern wall of Hwaseong Fortress; only part of its southern side touches the wall, while the other three sides project outward, giving it a projecting ground plan. It has a three-storey structure: the lower chiseong, a bastion projecting from the wall to allow flanking fire, is built of square-cut stone, while the outer walls of the first and second storeys and the lower part of the third storey are built of brick. Each side of the first and second storeys has six chongan (gun ports), and on the third storey a yeojang (a low parapet with battlements) was built, with four gun ports set at the same height. The poru, a raised gun pavilion, on the third storey has a hipped-and-gabled tile roof two bays wide and two bays deep, and jeonan (arrow slits) are set into the wooden panel doors in the upper wall. On the north and west sides of the chiseong, two hyeonan — vertical shafts for dropping stones or boiling liquid on attackers — were placed on each side to defend against enemies approaching the wall; at the base, the stonework of the wall was hollowed into a "∪" shape to connect with the brick hyeonan above. This system of fortification is found only at Hwaseong Fortress among surviving fortress architecture in Korea, and displays excellent flexibility and functionality in its use of materials. With the stone-laying technique of the chiseong, the brick-building technique of the hollow watchtower above, and important features such as the hyeonan, chongan and jeonan, it possesses an original architectural form and considerable aesthetic quality.

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Where it is

Region

Suwon, Gyeonggi

Designation

Treasure · 보물