Bukhansanseong Fortress

After King Injo surrendered to the Manchus at Namhansanseong in 1637, the court wanted a refuge it could hold. It took seventy years to agree on one. In 1711 King Sukjong ordered the peaks of Bukhansan walled, and the work — 12.7 kilometres of wall with fourteen gates, following the granite ridgeline — was done in six months. A palace for the king to retreat to was built in the valley inside, with thirteen temples whose monks doubled as the garrison. It was never used. No enemy came, the palace fell into ruin in the nineteenth century and was destroyed by a flood in 1915, and the wall went untended until restoration began in the 1990s. Today it is inside a national park visited by millions, and most of them walk on or past the wall without noticing. The best-preserved sections are around Daeseomun, the west gate, where the road enters, and along the ridge between the gates on the northern side. The palace site is a terraced clearing in the forest, with its foundations exposed.

Original Text

Where it is

Region

Goyang, Gyeonggi

Designation

Historic Site · 사적