GANGHWA COUNTY

Ganghwasanseong Fortress was first built in 1232, the 19th year of the reign of King Gojong, when the Goryeo capital was moved to Ganghwa to resist the Mongol invasions, although it was smaller than the present fortress. It was rebuilt during the early Joseon period but was destroyed by Qing forces during the Manchu invasion of 1637. During the reign of King Sukjong, the fortress underwent extensive repairs and was greatly expanded to include Namsan Mountain across Dongnakcheon Stream. It is a valley-enclosing mountain fortress extending across Buksan, Namsan, and Gyeonjasan Mountains, with a circumference of 7,122 meters. The fortress has four main gates, four secret gates (暗門), and two water gates (水門), and once had Bukjangdae and Namjangdae command posts on the summits of Buksan and Namsan Mountains, respectively, which served as both observation and command posts. Namjangdae, also known as Jangindae (丈人臺), was built in 1745, the 21st year of the reign of King Yeongjo, by Hwang Gyeong-won, the magistrate of Ganghwa, and was restored in 2010. Of the four main gates, the north gate originally had no gate pavilion, but in 1783, the seventh year of the reign of King Jeongjo, Kim No-jin, the magistrate of Ganghwa, added one, completing the gate’s present form. The gate pavilion of the south gate collapsed in 1955 and was restored in 1975, when Kim Jong-pil, then prime minister, wrote the plaque bearing the inscription “Gangdo Nammun” (江都南門). With the reconstruction of the east gate in 2003, all four gates were restored. The east gate is called Manghanru Pavilion (望漢樓), the west gate Cheomhwaru Pavilion (瞻華樓), the south gate Anparu Pavilion (晏波樓), and the north gate Jinsongru Pavilion (鎭松樓). Much of the eastern section of the fortress has disappeared, while the sections along the southern, northern, and western mountain slopes remain relatively well preserved. The fortress witnessed several major events in the late Joseon period, including the arrival of French forces during the French expedition to Korea in 1866 and the deployment of Japanese troops to the area when the Treaty of Ganghwa was concluded.