Hongyemun Gate, Incheon

Hongyemun, meaning "rainbow-shaped gate", is a stone gate begun in 1906 and completed in 1908 by the Japanese army's engineering corps, then in charge of railway construction. Cut through the flank of Eungbongsan Mountain, it forms a tunnel-like granite gate about 13 metres high and 7 metres wide. It stands at 20 Songhak-dong 3-ga, Jung-gu, Incheon, and covers an area of 1,952.6 square metres. At the time of its construction, the number of Japanese residents living in Incheon's Jungang-dong and Gwan-dong neighbourhoods was rising sharply, and the gate was cut through so that they could expand their area of settlement toward Manseok-dong; the Japanese themselves called it hyeolmun, or "hole gate". The work is said to have taken a long time because of a massive, unforeseen outcrop of rock encountered during construction. As a heritage site that shows the civil-engineering methods used by Japan at the time, it survives with its original form intact. A narrow two-lane road runs through Hongyemun, and from the road above it the whole of Incheon Port can be seen at a glance.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jemulpo-gu, Incheon

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산