Boryeong Seonggwak / Boryeong Gwanamun

About this place

The wall of Boryeong Fortress is a great rampart built high of earth or stone to block enemy invasions. This fortress was built in 1430 (the 12th year of King Sejong) by reinforcing a wall that already stood about 400 m east of the site of Bongdangseong (or Gonamsanseong), which had been raised in the late Goryeo period in preparation for Japanese pirate raids. In building the wall, both the inner and outer faces were stacked with stone, while apart from the left and right of the south gate site, the remaining walls were faced with stone only on the outside. The fortress measured about 630 m in circumference and 3.5 m in height, and it had 8 jeokdae (points for attacking, from the side, enemies clinging to the wall), 3 gates (south, north, east), and 3 wells. In 1432, buildings totaling some 140 kan in scale, such as the Jemindang, the government office, and the armory, are said to have been erected. However, they were damaged through the Imjin War and the righteous-army battles at the end of the Joseon period, and only about 70 m of wall beside Haesanru, the south gate, and about 360 m of the north wall remain preserved. The Boryeong Government Office Gate is the gate-tower building of the south gate of Boryeong-eupseong, built around the outskirts of Boryeong-hyeon during the Joseon Dynasty; it is said to have been built in 1431 (the 13th year of King Sejong) by County Magistrate Park Hyo-seong. It measures 3 kan across the front and 2 kan on the side, and is a splendid hip-and-gable-roofed building whose roof sides form the shape of the character 八 (eight). On the first floor, the columns on both sides are set astride the top of the wall so that, like an ordinary fortress gate-tower, only the central bay allows passage. Round columns were raised on long foundation stones matching the pillars, and on the second floor a pavilion loft was installed and surrounded on all sides by a simple railing. On the front of the building hangs a signboard reading 'Haesanru (海山樓),' said to be the autograph of Yi San-hae, who served as Chief State Councillor during the reign of King Jungjong (r. 1506-1544).