The Walled City of Pyongyang is the capital of Koguryo which was built between 552 and 586.
At present, there are remains of the contemporary walled city in the Central and Phyongchon Districts, Pyongyang.
The Koguryo people overcame the weak points of building the walls separately on mountain and flatland in the precious period and built the Walled City of Pyongyang by combining the building of the walls on mountains and flatlands in order to increase the defence capabilities to the maximum by making good use of mountains and rivers.
The Walled City of Pyongyang is approximately 16 km in circumference and its total length is about 23 km.
It had Mt. Kumsu in the north and was surrounded by the Taedong River and the Pothong River on t
The Walled City of Pyongyang was partitioned by the walls into 4--Inner, Central, Outer and Northern Castles.
The Inner Castle was a royal palace. The central government offices were in the Central Castle and the Outer Castle was the residential area.
The walls were built with stones or mixture of stones and earth and the one-sided building method was applied on the ridges and the both-sided building method on the flatland.
The exterior of the walls was regularly built with the stones of the quadrangular-pyramid shape by joining their surfaces and lines. Bastions, structures of the walls built to destroy the enemies nearing the walls at the front or from the sides, were arranged at the projecting parts of the walls in the mountainous regions.
The gates were made respectively in four sides of Inner, Central and Outer Castles and the Northern Castle had gates to the south and the north. There are still those gates--the Taedong Gate (east gate of the Inner Castle,) Chilsong Gate (north gate of the Inner Castle,) Pothong Gate (west gate of the Central Castle,) Jongum Gate (south gate of the Northern Castle) and Hyonmu Gate (north gate of the Northern Castle), etc.
There were 7 general’s terraces in the Walled City of Pyongyang and among them are typical the Ulmil Pavilion in the Inner Castle and the C
Up to now, the 6 letter-engraved stones of Koguryo Citadel have been found and through the study of the stones, such data were discovered as the fact that the people in 5 prefectures of Koguryo were mobilized for the building of the Walled City of Pyongyang, the sections assigned for the building of the walls, name and official position of a person in charge of the building, etc. along with the building date of the Walled City of Pyongyang.
The Walled City of Pyongyang clearly proves the capital system in Korea and its development in the Middle Ages, and the wisdom and talents of the Korean people.
It has been registered as the remains No. 1 worth the national treasure and restored and preserved splendidly thanks to the policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea of preserving the culture.
