Dol Bridge in Munsan-ri, Cheongju

Dol Bridge in Munsan-ri, Cheongju originally stood 100 metres south of the main gate of Munui Elementary School, before that area was submerged by the Daecheong Dam. When the dam was built in 1980 the bridge was relocated, together with the guesthouse Munuigwan, to Micheon-ri, Munui-myeon, and was then relocated again in March 2002 to the Munui Cultural Heritage Complex. The earliest documentary reference to this stone bridge appears in the Chungcheong-do Eupji (Gazetteer of Chungcheong Province), compiled in the early reign of King Heonjong of Joseon. The bridge is presumed to have been built in the Goryeo period; an inscription reading "eulmyo iwol" (the second month of the year eulmyo, a sexagenary date) survives on one of its piers. The deck consists of ten slabs of granite and bluestone, each measuring 2.5 m by 0.3–0.9 m, and the stone posts are made of granite 1.3 m high. The long stone slabs of the deck are laid in pairs running north–south and joined side by side in rows of five running east–west, forming a flat, ridge-like surface. Piers running east–west support the deck at the midpoint of its north–south length, and the stones used vary in size. The stone was only roughly dressed, and the bridge is a shirang-gyo, a beam-type bridge resting on stone posts. This stone bridge is notable not only for its great age but also because it is one of only a few stone bridges surviving in North Chungcheong Province, along with Cheongseokgyo Bridge in Okcheon, Nongdari Bridge in Jincheon and Namseokgyo Bridge in Cheongju, making it a valuable piece of heritage. In its structure, rather than erecting separate stone posts below, whole, unhewn stones are used to serve as piers; lintel stones are then laid across them, and the top is finished with broad stone slabs. In particular, it uses a considerably more archaic technique than Namseokgyo Bridge in Cheongju, and its form appears very stable, with a well-balanced structure, giving it ample value as cultural heritage.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Cheongju, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산