Hwangryong Fortress (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 황룡산성,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 皇龍山城) is a stone fortress of

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...

located in what is now

Ryonggang Ryonggang County is a county in South P'yŏngan province, North Korea. It is administered as a part of Namp'o Special City. It is famous for its local apples. Administrative divisions Ryonggang-gun is divided into one town (ŭp) and 10 village ...

county, Nampo in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. It is designated as "No.37 National Treasure of North Korea". It is about 10-11 metres high, 6-8 metres in width and has a 6.6 kilometre circumference.

History

The fortress played a role to protect the capital

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

during Goguryeo's control in the west side. The wall connects 8 major peaks and hilly area of Oseok mountain. According to

Samguksagi ''Samguk Sagi'' (, ''History of the Three Kingdoms'') is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. The ''Samguk Sagi'' is written in Classical Chinese, the written language of the literati of ancient Korea, ...

, the fortress was enlarged several times from the early 5th century, which was followed by additional construction of stronghold during

Gwanggaeto the Great Gwanggaeto the Great (374–413, r. 391–413) was the nineteenth monarch of Goguryeo. His full posthumous name means "Entombed in ''Gukgangsang'', Broad Expander of Domain, Peacemaker, Supreme King", sometimes abbreviated to ''Hotaewang'' ...

. Later

Jangsu of Goguryeo Jangsu of Goguryeo (394–491, r. 413–491) was the 20th monarch of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He was born in 394 as the eldest son of Gwanggaeto. He became the crown prince in 408, and upon his father's death in ...

officially transferred the capital to Pyeongyang, while series of fortresses were constructed later this time. Since the site is quite critical for the defense of northern area of Korean peninsula, the importance was not overlooked by the later kings. In 1675, Sukjong of Joseon reestablished northern part of this fortress to strengthen the national defense. That is to build exterior walls along 3 major gates of the castle, only except for the east side. Easter gate does not have anterior walls, either.

Notes

Media Korea studies

KOCCA
{{Castles in North Korea Castles in North Korea National Treasures of North Korea Archaeological sites in North Korea Buildings and structures in Nampo Goguryeo fortresses