Restoration of Namhansanseong Bongamseong... Open from November 30

Restored Namhansanseong Bongamseong Fortress

The outer fortress of Namhansanseong, a World Heritage site (Bongamseong), has completed restoration work and was opened to the public on the 30th of last month.

The Gyeonggi-do Namhansanseong World Heritage Center announced on the 1st that the restoration work of the outer fortress of Namhansanseong (Bongamseong), which began in June last year, was completed on the 30th of last month, and access for the general public started from that day.

Namhansanseong is broadly divided into the main fortress and the outer fortress. The main fortress, built in 1624 (the 2nd year of King Injo), is a 9.05 km long fortress constructed to prepare for the rapidly growing threat of the Later Jin invasion. The outer fortress was newly built in 1686 (the 12th year of King Sukjong) on the east side of the main fortress to reinforce the weak points in the defense of Namhansanseong during the Byeongjahoran (Second Manchu invasion).

The outer fortress is called Bongamseong and consists of a 2,120 m long wall, four secret gates (ammun) designed to be unknown to enemies, two artillery platforms (poru) built sturdily to install and fire cannons, and one protruding defensive structure (chi) that allows three-dimensional attacks on enemies approaching the fortress walls.

The outer fortress had not been repaired for over 300 years since its initial construction, leaving most of it in ruins with only traces remaining.

Accordingly, the Gyeonggi-do Namhansanseong World Heritage Center undertook restoration work to recover the value, authenticity, and integrity of the World Heritage Namhansanseong.

This restoration project, after consulting with related experts, unusually reused materials (such as fortress stones, roof tiles, and bricks) presumed to have been used when the fortress was first built, which were excavated and collected over a long period of time?a rare approach in cultural heritage restoration.

Sections severely damaged and whose original form was unknown were minimally restored, strictly adhering to the principle of preserving the original form of cultural heritage.

Kim Cheongwang, Director of the Namhansanseong World Heritage Center, said, "We are pleased to complete about a year and a half of restoration work and to reopen Bongamseong." He added, "This project is meaningful in that vegetation management was also carried out throughout the entire outer fortress, enabling future surveying and design work to secure foundational data for further restoration."