Gwangyang Jungheungsanseong Fortress

This mountain fortress in Okryong-myeon, Gwangyang, Jeollanam-do, encloses six peaks and takes in a valley within its walls. Centred on the Hanjae Pass halfway up Baegunsan Mountain, it commands a key transport route linking Gurye, Namwon, Hadong and Hwagae. The whole mountain forms a natural fortress. It is an earthen fortress, but the earth was not simply piled up — it was rammed down to a consistent thickness, layer by layer. The outer wall is very long, about 4 km, and an inner wall of earth about 240 m long was built inside it. The site of the South Gate survives at Sesimjeong Pavilion, by the entrance to Jungheungsa Temple, and the site of the North Gate survives on the path leading over to Chusan-ri, Okryong-myeon. During the Japanese invasions of 1592–1598 (the Imjin War), the fortress was used as a training ground for righteous-army volunteers and monk soldiers, and it was the site of a major battle between the allied forces of righteous-army volunteers and monk soldiers and the Japanese army. It is the only earthen fortress among those surveyed in Gwangyang, and as it is presumed to date from the Goryeo period, it is considered a site of high preservation value.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gwangyang, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물