Tonggun Pavilion () is the hall located in

Uiju Ŭiju County is a kun, or county, in North Pyongan Province, North Korea. The county has an area of 420 km², and a population of 110,018 (2008 data). Name Ŭiju appears as Uiju in South Korea's Revised Romanization and as Yizhou in Chinese ...

county,

North Pyongan Province North Pyongan Province (Phyŏnganbukto; , also spelled North P'yŏngan), is a western province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former P'yŏng'an Province, remained a province of Korea until 1945, th ...

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 ...

. The pavilion faces Liaoning Province, China right forward. The formation of the building seems like square.

History

Introduction

The book called ''Imsahong-gi'' () written in 991 says the exact year of establishment. Almost 6 centuries later, Junjong of Joseon re-established the pavilion in 1538, where seriously destroyed during

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

in the 20th century. Later the pavilion was restored.

Description

The Pavilion is located on the peak of

Samgaksan Bukhansan (, ), or Bukhan Mountain, is a mountain on the northern periphery of Seoul, South Korea. There are three major peaks, Baegundae , Insubong , Mangyeongdae . Because of its height and the fact that it borders a considerable portion of the ...

along the banks of the

Amnok River The Yalu River, known by Koreans as the Amrok River or Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the China–North Ko ...

. The pavilion was reconstructed in 1478 and was repaired in 1538 and again on several other occasions. It now looks as it did in the 15th century. The Pavilion has four open sections measuring 14.41 meters at the front of the complex and four open sections measuring 11.85 meters along both sides. It is a seven cross-beam building with "flower spray ornamentation at the top of each column". The roof is a double-eave hip-saddled roof with broad gables. The

KCNA The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is the state news agency of North Korea. The agency portrays the views of the North Korean government for both domestic and foreign consumption. It was established on December 5, 1946 and now features onlin ...

has described it as follows: "The Thonggun Pavilion is a valuable heritage showing pavilion architecture in the early period of the Ri Dynasty." The official South Korean Tourism website describes it as follows: "A raised gazebo used to direct the military in Uiju-eup, Uiju-gun, Pyeonganbuk-do. It is unclear when it was built, but a record of it exists in the ‘Imsahonggi’, a book published in 990 (8th year of King Seongjong’s rule, Goryeo era). Therefore, it is believed to be an early Goryeo structure. It was rebuilt in 1538 and repaired in 1823. If you climb Tonggunjeong, you can see Uijuseong Fortress and Aprokgang River all in one glance. It is North Korea’s National Treasure #11(''actually #51'')". It belongs to 8 famous spots of northwest Korea while designated as treasure no. 51 of North Korea.

Notes

References

{{coord missing, North Korea Buildings and structures completed in the 10th century Archaeological sites in North Korea National Treasures of North Korea Buildings and structures in North Pyongan Province Hanok