Gwangju Walled Town Remains

This is the site of the Gwangju Walled Town, which stood during the Joseon period. According to the Gwangju Eupji, a town gazetteer published in 1879, the walled town was built of stone, measuring 8,263 cheok in circumference and 9 cheok in height, with gates on its east, west, south and north sides. According to the Gwangju Sisa, a city history published in 1979, the walls were demolished sometime between 1908 and 1918, when Japanese forces began suppressing the Righteous Army resistance of the late Korean Empire period; the book also records the locations of the four gates and a moat that once encircled the town outside its walls. The east gate, Seowonmun, is thought to have stood at the intersection near the former Gwangju Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation building in Daeui-dong; the west gate, Gwangnimun, at the intersection near the former United States Information Service building in Hwanggeum-dong; the south gate, Jinnammun, at the intersection on the road toward the former Chonnam National University College of Medicine in Gwangsan-dong; and the north gate, Gongbukmun, at the intersection by the Chungjang-ro 4-ga police sub-station. The walled town was demolished as part of the Japanese military's so-called 'Great Operation to Suppress Rebels in South Korea', and roads were subsequently built on the site as a Japanese residential and commercial quarter took shape, further damaging the remains. Excavations were carried out in 2006–2007 during the construction of the National Asian Culture Center; the stones of the wall were dismantled and kept in storage, and in 2014, during further excavation, part of the walled town was relocated and restored.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Dong-gu, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료