Yongin Halmisanseong Fortress

Yongin Halmisanseong Fortress lies on the boundary between Dongbaek-dong in Giheung-gu, Yongin, and Gasil-ri and Maseong-ri in Pogok-eup. It was built to enclose the northern peak of Halmisan Mountain and its southern slope, and its plan forms a long oval. The wall measures 661m in circumference, making it small in scale among the Three Kingdoms-period fortresses of the Seoul and Gyeonggi region. Most of the stones used in the wall of Halmisanseong Fortress are white-plagioclase gneiss, the bedrock of the surrounding area. The wall was built by coursing stones dressed into rectangular, brick-like blocks in even, level rows, with the inner face, outer face and core all built of stone. On the outer face a reinforcing wall, added to prevent the fortress wall from collapsing, is also identified. The gate is presumed to have been a raised gate, reached by climbing a ladder. Within the fortress a watchtower built to guard against attack, a water-collection facility, pit-dwellings used as soldiers' quarters, and numerous storage pits dug into the ground have been identified. Notably, three rectangular building sites and an octagonal cornerstone building site, which point to the fortress's administrative rank, have been confirmed, though no roof tiles were used in its cornerstone buildings. Judging from the excavated artefacts and construction method, Halmisanseong Fortress appears to have been built by Silla. In 553 Silla drove out Goguryeo and seized the Gyeonggi-do region that Baekje had earlier recovered; Halmisanseong Fortress bears witness to this process of Silla's advance into the Hangang River basin. It is presumed to have been the seat fortress of Guseong-hyeon, a county Silla established in the Yongin area, so that its original name was likely 'Guseong'. Halmisanseong Fortress is also an important site for tracing the development of Silla fortress-building techniques from the mid-sixth to the mid-seventh century.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongin, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물