Paju Wolrongsan Mountain Fortress Site

Wolrongsan Mountain has two peaks: the one near the riverside is called Gyoha Wolrongsan, and the one to the south is called Paju Wolrongsan. Wolrongsan Mountain Fortress stands on Paju Wolrongsan, at an elevation of 229 m. From here the whole of the Paju area is visible, as far as the point where the Imjingang River and the Hangang River meet, making it a strategic point for defending the north. The slopes of Wolrongsan are steep, but the interior of the fortress at the summit is relatively flat. The fortress was built across the summit and the ridgeline. Its total circumference is 1,315 m, making it one of the largest fortresses of the Three Kingdoms period. The walls make use of the natural terrain formed by cliffs, with earth banked up only at vulnerable points. Broken stone can be seen in cross-sections of the walls, but it is an earthen rather than a stone fortress; stone appears to have been used only inside the wall or in certain sections vulnerable to attack. As no excavation has yet been carried out, the form of the gates, the method of wall construction and the layout of the building sites within the fortress remain unknown. However, large quantities of Baekje pottery sherds have been excavated within the fortress, and the construction method observable at the surface suggests that it is a Baekje fortress. Wolrongsan Mountain Fortress is of academic significance as a fortress that defended the western frontier on the approach to the capital of Hanseong Baekje. It is also an important site for revealing the actual civil engineering techniques of Hanseong Baekje.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Paju, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물