Gangwongamyeong Provincial Office, Wonju

Gangwongamyeong was the centre of local administration for Gangwon Province in the Joseon period, overseeing twenty-six bu, mok, gun and hyeon (administrative districts) across the province. It was established in 1395, the fourth year of King Taejo, and served as the province's seat of government for five hundred years, until it was abolished in 1895, the thirty-second year of Emperor Gojong, when the eight-province system was replaced by a twenty-three-bu system. The provincial office originally comprised thirty-one buildings, including Seonhwadang (the main hall of government), Jaeeundang (the inner residence), Pojeongnu (the main gate), four great gates, a guest house and auxiliary buildings, but it lost much of its original form with the later construction of the Wonju city office and the Veterans' Association hall, and today only buildings such as Seonhwadang, Pojeongnu and Cheongundang remain. An excavation in 2000 revealed the sites of Jungsammun and Naesammun (the middle and inner gates), together with building sites thought to have been a workshop storehouse and a library, a walkway leading from Pojeongnu through these gates to Seonhwadang, and the remains of a surrounding wall and side corridors around Seonhwadang, all in relatively good condition. The stone revetment of Bangji, a square pond behind Seonhwadang, also survives in relatively good condition. At the site, the surviving buildings of Seonhwadang, Pojeongnu and Cheongundang remain in their original positions, and related remains such as traces of the gates, storehouse and library sites, walkway, wall and corridors are relatively well preserved. Furthermore, the building sites of the earlier Wonju-mok government office, which predates Gangwongamyeong, survive intact in the layer beneath, making this an important site providing valuable material for the study of Korean government office buildings. The site's official name was changed from Wonju Gangwongamyeongji to Wonju Gangwongamyeong by notification on 28 July 2011.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Wonju, Gangwon

Designation

Historic Site · 사적