Gyeonhwonsanseong Fortress

This is a mountain fortress encircling the summit of Jangbawisan Mountain to the north of Jangam-ri in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province, built in the teomoe style that hugs the crown of a hill. It is called Gyeonhwonsanseong because it is said to have been built by Gyeonhwon. Not only this fortress but several old fortresses in the Sangju area are associated with Gyeonhwon, because the Samguk sagi records that Gyeonhwon and his father Aja-gae were natives of Sangju. Gyeonhwon was born the son of a farmer and served as a general of Silla; he trained troops at this site, then in 892, the sixth year of Queen Jinseong of Silla, rose in revolt and attacked a number of Silla fortresses, before establishing his capital at Wansanju in 900, the fourth year of King Hyogong, and founding Later Baekje. The fortress is roughly rectangular in plan. Following the lie of the land, natural rock faces were left as they stood, and walls were built only where necessary, so that natural cliffs and man-made ramparts form a single, harmonious whole. Curved bastions (gokseong) were built at each of the fortress's four corners; the two on the north-east and south-east survive in almost complete form, commanding a clear view down over Sangju. The wall runs 650 m in circumference, stands 7–15 m high, and is 4–7 m wide. Its method of construction resembles that of Samnyeonsanseong Fortress (Historic Site No. 235) in Boeun, and it is one of the rare, finely built mountain fortresses surviving from the Three Kingdoms period in Korea.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sangju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물