Kenneth E. Harker
2008 Korea - Hwaseong Fortresss

We visited Hwaseong Fortress as part of our excursion day activities during the 2008 World Amateur Radio Direction Finding Championships held in Hwaseong, Korea. City boundaries have shifted over the years, and today the Hwaseong Fortress is actually located inside the city limits of Suwon (and just as confusingly, the University of Suwon is now located within the city limits of Hwaseong). Hwaseong Fortress was constructed over a three-year period from 1794 to 1796 by Joseon Dynasty King Jeongjo (1752-1800). Of dubious military value in the late eighteenth century, the fortress was dedicated to King Jeongjo's father, Prince Sado (1735-1762), whose tomb was moved to Hwaseong by his son. The fortress walls are approximately 5.7 km (3.6 mi) long and enclose 1.3 km² (0.5 mi²), including a royal palace and the original city center of Suwon. The fortress was built using elements of both traditional Korean and modern western military technologies. Much of the fortress has been restored following damage sustained during the Japanese occupation of 1910-1945 and the Korean War of 1950-1954 thanks to very detailed record-keeping of its construction that was published in 1800 following the death of King Jeongjo. Hwaseong Fortress is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

These photos are copyright © 2008 Kenneth E. Harker. All rights reserved.

	We started our tour at Hwaseong Haenggung, the royal palace inside Hwaseong Fortress. Hwaseong Haenggung was not a primary palace, but one that was used when the king visited Suwon. Sinpungnu is the main gate into Hwaseong Haenggung. The red and blue symbol on the gate is a taegeuk, used as both a spiritual and nationalist symbol in Korea. The red represents heaven and the blue represents earth.
	These were life-size replicas of some of the pulley and crane machinery that was employed during the construction of the fortress. The chief architect was Jeong Yakyong, who was a member of the Silhak Movement. The Silhak Movement encouraged the practical use of science and technology in civil engineering. Through the use of new building construction technology, Hwaseong Fortress was completed in a much shorter time period than earlier Korean fortresses and palaces of its size.
	This is Junyangmun Gate. Like most gates in royal palaces, the name of the gate is written in Chinese characters from right to left. At Hwaseong Haenggung, the name of the gate was written in older Chinese characters rather than what would have been the modern Chinese script of the time.
	Bongsudang was the throne room at Hwaseong Haenggung, and is where the king would have held court while in residence at the palace. It is neither as large nor as elaborate as the throne buildings in the grand royal palaces in Seoul.
	The throne room includes the royal screen painting that could be found in every palace. The painting always included five mountain peaks, the sun, and the moon, and the throne was place in the center to emphasize that the king was the pivot point of a harmonious and balanced universe. Overhead, you can see stored doors that are used to enclose the front of the hall when it was not in use.
	This was a room in Jangnakdang, the king's residence in Hwaseong Haenggung. The replica furniture and furnishings are representative of the household during the reign of King Jeongjo.
	The traditional style and colors of painting on the underside of the roofs in the royal palace is called dancheong, which literally means "cinnabar and blue-green" in Korean. Almost all formal buildings and gates in Joseon Dynasty Korea were painted in dancheong colors and designs.
	A kitchen in the royal residences, as it might have looked during the reign of King Jeongjo. The kitchen has two fireplaces with woks.
	This room in the palace was furnished as if it were inhabited by a scholar or used as a classroom.
	This mural was painted on the western wall of Hwaseong Haenggung. It tells the story of a battle and was at least 10 meters (30 feet) long.
	This fish is actually a bell that could be sounded with a mallet. It is hanging in a pavilion named Naeposa on the hillside to the west and above Hwaseong Haenggung. The pavilion was used as a watchtower and the bell could alert palace guards to danger.
	Hwaseong Haenggung Palace, as seen from Mirohanjeong, another watchtower on the hillside west of the palace.
	Beyond the palace, the buildings are mostly inside the fortress walls. The taller buildings in the distance are modern apartment buildings of Suwon, located outside of the fortress walls.
	Next door to Hwaseong Haenggung was an elementary school. The kids are participating in some sort of group exercise involving small drums. The drums are decoarated with the sam taegeuk. Behind the row of trees was a church.
	Korean schoolkids on a field trip in the palace.
	Yuyeotaek was used as a reception hall for the king. The tourist map we picked up at the palace entrance describes this building with this great sentence: "King Jeongjo stayed here to have an interview with his loving subjects during his honored going for a little while." This was unusal - for the most part, the English language tourist information we encountered was well-written.
	Examples of the military uniform during the reign of King Jeongjo.
	At 11:00 AM each day, trained performers staged an exhibition of traditional Korean martial arts in front of Sinpungnu Gate. The clothing is representative of what the palace guard might have worn during the reign of King Jeongjo.
	One warrior has a wooden sword and wodden shield, while the other uses a long wooden staff. The actions were all highly choreographed.
	Most of the exercises involved several pairs of fighters following the same routine.
	We had a picnic lunch at the top of a "hill", as our guide informed us after the martial arts performance. The hill was actually Mount Paldalsan, a climb of about 250 meters (800 feet) elevation above Hwaseong Haenggung. At the top of the hill is Seojangdae. Jangdae is Korean for "command post". Seojangdae means "western command post".
	Next to Seojangdae was Seonodae, the "western watchtower". From the top of the watchtower, you had a good view in all directions. This was looking roughly northwest into downtown Suwon.
	Although I tended to think of it as a suburb of Seoul, Suwon is a city of over a million people.
	After lunch, we walked about a kilometer or so along the top of the wall, going in a clockwise direction, most of which was downhill from Mount Paldalsan. Parts of the walk were slippery from a very light rain and mist.
	Hwaseomun, one of the four gates of Hwaseong Fortress, as seen from atop the fortress wall. Above the bricks and below the roof are four black-and-white taiji. In Korea, you usually saw red-and-blue taegeuk, but the religious symbology of heaven and earth, yin and yang, is basically the same. Sometimes refered to as the "western gate" of Hwaseong Fortress, it is actually in the north-northwestern part of the fortress wall.
	This bastion house was called Bukporu. It extends out from the wall to enable defenders to repel attackers from either side.
	These houses were on the inside of the fortress wall. The bricks in the walls form interesting, irregular patterns.
	Janganmun Gate, as seen from atop the fortress wall. Janganmun is the largest city gate in Korea, larger than the Namdaemun and Dongdaemun gates in Seoul.
	Janganmun Gate, as seen from street level inside a walled courtyard in front of the gate. Jangan means "capitol" in Korean, and the name of the gate reflects King Jeongjo's unrealized hope to move the capital of his kingdom from Seoul to Suwon.
	The small gate in front of Janganmun and the semicircular wall creates a courtyard directly in front of Janganmun that made it easier to defend. As far as I could tell, this small gate did not have a name of its own. This is looking out the gate toward the town of Suwon outside the fortress.
	Janganmun Gate, as seen from street level outside the fortress.