Hwaseong Fortress or Suwon Hwaseong () is a Korean fortress surrounding the centre of Suwon, the provincial capital of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It was built from 1794 to 1796 by King Jeongjo of Joseon to house and honor the remains of his biological father, Crown Prince Sado. Sado had been executed by being locked in a rice chest by his father, King Yeongjo. Located south of Seoul and enclosing much of central Suwon, the fortress includes King Jeongjo's temporary palace. The fortress and enclosed palace were designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. It comprises among many other features a perimeter wall, four main gates, and two sluicegates over the Suwoncheon, Suwon's main stream, which flows through the centre of the fortress.
Background King Jeongjo apparently built Hwaseong Fortress to prepare for a move of the capital from Seoul to Suwon. Suwon was purported to be strategically positioned to connect Seoul with the West Sea (Yellow Sea) and China. The king wanted to leave the factional strife of the court to carry out reforms and believed that Suwon had the potential to grow into a new and prosperous capital. To encourage growth, he ordered people to move to Suwon at considerable expense and exempted them from taxes for ten years. King Jeongjo also ordered public works, such as the building of educational facilities to better facilitate the city as a capital.
Suwon Hwaseong Fortress was restored based on the Hwaseong Seongyeok Uigwe, a design drawing from 200 years ago. The Hwaseong Seongyeok Uigwe is a blueprint showing the appearance of Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, the tools used to build it, and the location of Suwon Hwaseong Fortress.
Because Suwon Hwaseong Fortress was restored based on perfectly preserved blueprints, it was exceptionally successful in being registered as a World Cultural Heritage despite being a modern restored building.
Construction
Hwaseong Fortress was built over a two-and-a-half-year period, from 1794 to 1796 according to the designs of the architect Chŏng Yagyong, who would later become a renowned leader of the Silhak movement. Silhak, which means practical learning, encouraged the use of science and industry, and Chŏng incorporated fortress designs from Korea and China along with contemporary science into his plans. The use of brick as a building material for the fortress and employment of efficient pulleys and cranes were also due to the influence of Silhak.
Construction of the fortress was also a response to the collapse of the Korean front line during the Imjin war. At the time, the dominant model for building fortresses in Korea was to make a simple wall for the city or town and a separate mountain fortress to which the people could evacuate in times of war. However, this fortress was built to include elements of a wall, defensive fortress, and town centre, the four main gates being used as the gates for the town. The arrow-launching platforms built along ramparts with crenellated parapets and battlements were defensive elements of the fortress while the wall also included secret gates for offensive actions.
The fortress took 700,000 person-hours to build and cost the national treasury 870,000 nyang, the currency at the time, and 1500 sacks of rice to pay the workers. In the past, government work had been carried out by corvée labour, but in this case workers were paid by the government, another sign of Silhak influence.
Records of Hwaseong Fortress Construction
A white paper, Hwaseong Seongyeok Uigwe (Records of Hwaseong Fortress Construction), was published in 1801, shortly after the death of King Jeongjo. It has ten volumes and proved invaluable for the reconstruction effort in 1970 after the fortress had been severely damaged during the Korean War. The volumes were divided by subject, with the first covering the plans for building, including blueprints and a list of supervisors. The next six volumes detail the actual implementation of the construction, such as the royal orders and records of the wages of the workers. The final three volumes are supplements and detail the construction of the adjoining palace, Haenggung. Labour was allocated by speciality, dividing workers by trade, categorising them as foremen, stonemasons, labourers, and so on. The records also detail the quantities of different materials used.
An abridged French translation was published in 1898 by Henry Chevalier, who was consul of France in Korea, while a full German translation with commentary is provided in a thesis by Doo Won Cho of the University of Bamberg.
Overview of structures
Wall The wall is in length and varies between , originally enclosing of land. On flat terrain the wall was generally built higher than that on either of the two hills over which it passes, as higher walls were seen as less necessary along hilltops. The parapets are made of stone and brick, like most of the fortress, and were in height. All parts are well-maintained, and the whole circuit can be walked easily.
The Four Main Gates The 1795 fortress had four gates: Janganmun (north gate), Hwaseomun (west), Paldalmun (south) and Changnyongmun (east). Janganmun and Paldalmun are the largest of the four main gates and resemble Seoul's Namdaemun in roof design, stone and woodwork. Indeed, Janganmun is the largest gate in Korea. Both the north and south gates are topped with two-storey wooden pavilions, while Hwaseomun's and Changyongmun's, those of the west and east gates respectively, have only one storey. The four main gates are encircled by miniature fortresses which were manned by guards. Meanwhile, Changyoungmun was greatly destroyed during the Korean War and it was restored in 1978.
The Modern Days Entries Nowadays, the intra muros Suwon requires large entries for the modern roads needed by visitors and inhabitants. These large roads were built during the period when the wall was down, and the 1975 reconstruction had no choice but to preserve these roads. For three of them, the rampart walk has been rebuilt as a bridge between two neighboring structures: The North Entry by a bridge between the North Gate Janganmun and its Eastern Gate Guard Platform. The East Entry by a bridge between the North-East Crossbow Platform and the North-East Observation Tower The West Entry by a bridge between the West Gate and the North-West Pavilion. Additionally, two small underpass related to Mount Paldal were preserved. They are situated respectively near the West Turret 1 and the South Turret. Concerning the South Entry, i.e. the biggest one, a more radical solution has been used. Four no more extant structures (the South-West and South-East Gate Guard Platforms, the South Secret Gate and the South Observation Tower) were not rebuild at all and now the South Gate, Paldalmun, remains isolated from everything, like an island in a flood of traffic.
Other structures Among all the structures along the wall (see descriptions below), the most striking are the floodgates the remaining two watchtowers, both three-storey and with distinctive wooden pavilions on top and embrasures for guns and lookouts. the beacon tower. It has five chimneys to make different signals with smoke or fire. When one was lit it signaled peace, two meant the enemy had been spotted, three warned that the enemy was approaching, four meant the enemy had made it into the city, and five signals lit was an alert that fighting had begun.
Poru 砲樓 versus Poru 鋪樓 For an unknown reason, the original Chinese terms (, "fortified tower, blockhouse") and (, "platform") have been alphabetized by the same Hangul , generating several naming collisions. In accordance with the authoritative Hwaseong Seongyeok Uigwe (1801), it is convenient to maintain different names for different kinds of fortification structures. This leads to alphabetize 砲樓 as 'GunTower' and 鋪樓 as 'SentryPost'. The following gallery shows how different these structures are in their design and their usefulness.
Features of the Wall
There were 48 structures, including those no longer existing, situated along the wall and which can be sorted by their relative usefulness:
Main Gates (4): South, East, North, West Flood gates (2): South, North Beacon (1): Beacon Tower Spur (1): South-West Spur (용도) Command Posts (2): East, West Pavillons (4): South-East, North-East, North-West, South-West Guard Platforms (4): South-East, North-East, North-West, South-West Secret Gates (5): South, East, North, West, South-West Observation Towers (3): South, North-East, North-West Sentry Posts (5): East No. 2, East No. 1, North-East, North, West GunTowers (5): East, North-East, North-West, West, South Crossbow Platforms (2): North-East, West Turrets (10): East No. 3, East No. 2, East No. 1, North-East, West No. 1, West No. 2, West No. 3, South-West No. 1, South-West No. 2, South
Four of the original structures were not reconstructed; these were the South-East Gate Guard Platform, the South Secret Gate, the South Observation Tower, and the South Floodgate. All four structures were all situated immediately near the South Gate and the presence of the modern roads required for visitors and inhabitants in the area inhibited their reconstruction.
The structures of the wall can also be listed in the order they appear by walking the length of the wall, beginning with the South Gate. or the "Asian Historical Architecture". Here, these structures are listed in anti-clockwise order beginning by the South Gate (the access node using public transportation).
South Gate (팔달문) South-East Gate Guard Platform (남동적대) South Secret Gate (남암문) South Observation Tower (남공심돈) Namsumun (남수문) South-East Pavilion (동남각루) East Turret No. 3 (동삼치) East Sentry Post No. 2 (동이포루) Beacon Tower (봉돈) East Turret No. 2 (동이치) East GunTower (동포루) East Turret No. 1 (동일치) East Sentry Post 1 (동일포루) East Gate (창룡문) North-East Crossbow Platform (동북노대) North-East Observation Tower (동북공심돈) East Command Post (동장대) East Secret Gate (동암문) East-North Sentry Post (동북포루) North Secret Gate (북암문) North-East Pavilion (동북각루) Hwahongmun (화홍문) North-East GunTower (북동포루) North-East Turret (북동치) North-East Gate Guard Platform (북동적대) North Gate (장안문) North-West Gate Guard Platform (북서적대) North-West GunTower (북서포루) North Sentry Post (북포루) North-West Observation Tower (서북공심돈) West Gate (화서문) North-West Pavilion (서북각루) West Turret No. 1 (서일치) West GunTower (서포루) West Turret No. 2 (서이치) West Crossbow Platform (서노대) West Command Post (서장대) West Secret Gate (서암문) West Sentry Post (서포루) West Turret No. 3 (서삼치) South-West Secret Gate (서남암문) South-West Spur (용도) South-West Turret No. 1 (용도서치) South-West Pavilion (서남각루) South-West Turret No. 2 (용도동치) South GunTower (남포루) South Turret (남치) South-West Gate Guard Platform (남서적대)
South Gate (팔달문)
Paldalmun, known locally as Nammun (South Gate), sits in the middle of a roundabout on a busy main road in central Suwon. Its stone base is capped with a two-storey wooden pavilion surrounded by a stone wall. A small, semi-circular protective wall known as an ongseong, is located on the south side (outside) of the gate. The gate also houses a bell called Paldalmun Dongjong, which was originally cast in Gaeseong in 1080 and was refounded in 1687 by Dohwaseung, the chief priest of Manuisa Temple, for use in Buddhist ceremonies. Standing 123 cm tall and 75 cm in diameter, it hangs from a dragon-shaped suspension ring, has a flue pipe to set the tone and has a slightly curved body - features which are typical of Korean bells of that era. This particular bell's flue pipe has a design of the dragon's tail entwined around it and is topped with a lotus flower. The top of the bell has a line of Sanskrit words around it, while the bottom is decorated with arabesque designs. The decorative nipples are interspaced with Bodisattvas holding lotus flowers. The bell is very similar in design to that in Tongdosa, which differs notably from Paldalmun's only in size.