Geumosan Mountain Fortress Site

This is the site of a mountain fortress built of stone encircling the summit, embracing the natural rock cliffs and a small valley of Yongamsan Mountain, which stands 545 metres above sea level. Although its interior is not spacious, it offers favourable conditions for defence. The total length of the fortress wall is about 1,525 metres, or roughly 1,650 metres when the slope is taken into account. The wall follows the ridgelines and rock faces and so is not perfectly regular, but both its inner and outer faces are built of stone, and in plan it is roughly diamond-shaped. The wall curves inward, with small stones wedged between the large ones so that the large stones would not shift, giving it a sturdy, stable structure. Traces of gates survive today at two points, in the south and north, but both are badly damaged and it is difficult to make out their original form. At the south gate site, only two to three courses of dressed natural stone can be confirmed on either side, while at the north gate site five to six courses of dressed natural stone remain. Traces of buildings are found just inside the north gate site, just inside the south gate site, and on a flat area along the northern ridge of Yongamsan Mountain. A well site also lies on the flat ground to the east, where the fortress wall meets the cliff. The fortress was built in the late Goryeo period, together with Bibongsan Mountain Fortress — the main fortress of Neungseong-hyeon County — and its subsidiary fortress, Yeseongsan Mountain Fortress, in order to defend against raids by Japanese pirates (waegu). When Byeongja Horan, the second Manchu invasion of Korea, broke out in 1636, the fourteenth year of King Injo, the walls were repaired and used for military training, and provisions for the troops were also stored there.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hwasun, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료