Site of the Monument on Bukhansan Mountain Commemorating the Border Inspection by King Jinheung

This is the former site of the stele of King Jinheung of Silla, once erected on Bukhansan Mountain. After it was set up, the Bukhansan stele lay forgotten for around 1,200 years until it was discovered in the early nineteenth century by Kim Jeong-hui. Its inscription records that, on his way back from touring Bukhansan, King Jinheung exempted the various districts he had passed through from taxation and ordered the release of prisoners. Scholars had long argued, from the characters 'Namcheon' in the inscription, that among the four surviving steles of King Jinheung the Bukhansan stele was the last to be erected, after the twenty-ninth year of his reign (568); but as research has advanced, the view that it is in fact the earliest of the four now appears more likely to be correct. Since no other record confirms King Jinheung visiting various parts of Bukhansan except in 555, the stele should be dated to sometime between 553, when Silla occupied this region, and the twenty-second year of King Jinheung's reign (561), when the Changnyeong stele was erected. Today only the spot where the stele once stood, together with the groove into which it was set, remains, marked by a sign indicating that this is the original site of the monument. Regarded as Korea's most valuable epigraphic monument after the stele of King Gwanggaeto, it was designated a national treasure in 1934. As its lower portion had broken away over the years and it bore bullet marks from the Korean War, conservation measures became necessary, and it was moved to Gyeongbokgung Palace in 1972; it is now preserved at the National Museum of Korea. A replica stele was made and installed at the original site on 19 October 2006.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jongno-gu, Seoul

Designation

Historic Site · 사적