Geumosanseong Fortress

About this place

Located within Geumosan Provincial Park in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do, this is a mountain fortress built of stone in a double structure of inner and outer walls, enclosing the summit area and valleys of the steep, 976-meter Geumosan Mountain. Because the date when Geumosanseong was first built does not appear in the records, it cannot be known for certain, but in the late Goryeo period, when Japanese raiders frequently penetrated deep inland to kill people and plunder, the people of nearby Seonsan, Indong, Gaeryeong, and Seongju took refuge on Geumosan and built the fortress to defend against the raiders' invasions, having soldiers guard it. It is said they even set up a military granary here to stockpile provisions and weapons. The inner wall was built in a band shape around the summit, with a circumference of 10 li, and no wall was separately built along the sheer cliffs. The outer wall, enclosing the valleys, has a circumference of 5 li, and the length of the inner and outer walls together reaches 6.3 km. In the 10th year of King Taejong of Joseon (1410), the fortress was greatly rebuilt as a national project, and during the Japanese invasions, its strategic importance being recognized, it was rebuilt again in the 28th year of King Seonjo (1596). In the 17th year of King Injo (1639), an expansion project to build the outer wall was carried out, making it a double fortress, and it was newly rebuilt in the 5th year of King Gojong (1868). According to records, inside the fortress there was one valley and several ponds and wells, along with granaries called Daehyechang and Naeseongchang, an arsenal, and Jinnamsa Temple. Today, the gate sites of the inner and outer walls, the form of the secret gate (a small gate made so the enemy could not detect it), and building sites remain. Meanwhile, within the fortress, the Geumosanseong Jung Su-song Merit Monument, presumed to have been erected around the 5th year of King Gojong (1868), stands lonely, guarding the fortress.