Goyang City Shares 14 Years of Excavation Results from the Bukhansanseong Haenggung Site
To Be Held on March 5... Pushing for UNESCO World Heritage Inscription
Discussing the Identification of the Value, Conservation, and Utilization Plans for the Bukhansanseong Haenggung Site
Goyang Special City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Donghwan) announced on the 27th that it will hold an academic conference titled "Academic Conference on the Excavation Results of the Bukhansanseong Haenggung Site" at 2 p.m. on March 5 at KINTEX Exhibition Hall 2.
Goyang Special City (Mayor Lee Donghwan) will hold the "Academic Conference on Excavation Results of the Bukhansanseong Haenggung Site" at 2:00 p.m. on March 5 at Exhibition Hall 2 of the Korea International Exhibition Center. Provided by Goyang Special City
The Bukhansanseong Haenggung was a royal secondary palace built in 1712 during the reign of King Sukjong of the Joseon Dynasty and served as a key facility for defending the capital during wartime. It consisted of a total of 129 rooms, including the inner quarters where the king and queen resided and the outer quarters where the king and his officials conducted state affairs together. It was buried in a major flood in 1915, leaving only the site behind.
After being designated as a Historic Site in 2007, a trial excavation began in 2011, followed by six full-scale detailed excavation campaigns conducted between 2012 and 2025. The results accumulated so far will be presented at this academic conference.
Bukhansanseong is in the process of being nominated for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List under the heritage name "Capital City Walls of Hanyang." This academic conference is drawing attention as it is the first academic event to be held immediately after the formal submission of the World Heritage nomination dossier.
The "Capital City Walls of Hanyang" form a unique defensive system integrating three components into one: Hanyangdoseong (the city wall of the administrative capital), Bukhansanseong (a defensive fortress for military purposes), and Tangchundaeseong (the connecting wall linking the two).
This academic conference is expected to bolster the inscription review at the 49th session of the World Heritage Committee scheduled for 2027 by academically demonstrating the value of the "Bukhansanseong Haenggung Site," which was a strategic military stronghold and a governing base during times of war.
The conference will begin with a keynote lecture by Song Inho, Emeritus Professor at the University of Seoul and former Chair of ICOMOS Korea, on "The World Heritage Value of Bukhansanseong and the Capital City Walls of Hanyang." This will be followed by thematic presentations: "Procurement and Flexible Management of Resources for the Construction of the Haenggung during the Reign of King Sukjong" by Shin Youngmoon, Head of the World Heritage Inscription Team at the Seoul Metropolitan Government; "Architectural Systems and Techniques of Haenggung in the Late Joseon Period" by Lee Seungyeon, Director of Architecture Literature Archaeology Studio; and "Conservation, Restoration, and Utilization Plans for the Bukhansanseong Haenggung Site" by Park Hyunwook, Senior Researcher at the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation.
The general discussion will be chaired by Shin Heegwon, Professor at the University of Seoul and Secretary-General of ICOMOS Korea, and will feature in-depth debate by experts including Seo Bongsu, Director of the Baekdu Cultural Research Institute, Cho Jaemo, Professor at Kyungpook National University, and Han Ukbin, Director of the Korea Center for Architectural Safety.
An official from Goyang City stated, "We hope that this academic conference will serve as an opportunity to shed new light on the value of the Bukhansanseong Haenggung Site, and to discuss its restoration and utilization so that it can be reborn in the future as a shared heritage of all humanity."
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