Icheon Seolseongsanseong Fortress

Icheon Seolseongsanseong Fortress stands on Seolseongsan Mountain, 290m above sea level, between Janghowon-eup and Seolseong-myeon in Icheon. From its summit there are broad views taking in Icheon, Yeoju, Jugsan and Eumseong. The fortress is a pogok-sik, or valley-enclosing, mountain fortress that encompasses both the summit and the valley of Seolseongsan Mountain. At 1,095m in circumference, it ranks among the largest fortress walls of the Three Kingdoms period. The wall follows the terrain, lower in the east and higher in the west, giving the fortress an almost oval plan. It was built using the hyeopchuk method, in which the ground was levelled in steps and both the inner and outer faces of the wall, together with the core, were built up with stone. The outer face was made of gneiss cut into rectangular blocks and laid in level courses, with an additional reinforcing wall added to its outside. A trapezoidal drainage outlet passes through the wall, and the gate is of the hyeonmun type, reached only by climbing a ladder. Inside the fortress, pit-house building sites used as soldiers' quarters, a water-collection facility and a wooden-lined storage pit have been identified. The construction techniques of Seolseongsanseong Fortress are typical of Silla fortress-building of the sixth to seventh centuries, confirming that it was built by Silla as it advanced into the Hangang River basin. Silla mountain fortresses served not only a military function but also as centres of local administration. This area was once Noeumjuk-hyeon, a county of Goguryeo, and after Silla took control it is presumed to have built the fortress as the administrative seat of Silla's Noeumjuk-hyeon. Seolseongsanseong Fortress is thus an important site for understanding both Silla's fortress-building techniques and the structure of its administrative centres as it advanced into the Hangang River basin.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Icheon, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물