The Taedong Gate and the Pothong Gate are the typical gates in the walled city of Pyongyang.
The Taedong Gate is the east one in the walled city of Pyongyang, situated at Taedongmun-dong, Central District, Pyongyang City.
After it was built with the walled city of Pyongyang in the mid-6th century, it was repaired and rebuilt several times. The existing building was rebuilt in 1635 after being burnt in the Imjin Patriotic War late in the 16th century.
It was the most important of the gates in the Walled City of Pyongyang as the gate to the south across the Taedong River.
The Taedong Gate consists of delicate granite embankments and a gatehouse on them. It is 19 m high.
The embankment is 6.5 m high and it has an arch in the centre. The embankment was built in the shape of trapezoid so as to prop up the gatehouse.
The two-storey gatehouse on the embankment has the 15.91-m-high front and 10.34-m-high side.
The pillars are all thinned upward and the pillars at the four corners were tilted a bit inward, thicker and higher than the others. This is an effective method in balancing the building.
The inside of the building has no layers structurally.
The gable roof is very beautiful as its ridge lines and plane look soft and elegant from every angle.
There were sculptured decorations including monkey, dog, doll, etc. which were depicted with a high sculpture, but before Korea’s liberation the Japanese imperialists plundered the decoration of monkey, so it is still vacant.
The pillars were painted red and head space, beam, lintel, flat room, rafter dressed with faint Tanchong, the combination of various kinds of patterns and colours.
Well-balanced appearance of the Taedong Gate, smooth slide of the magnificent roof, recessed eaves, stable structural elements such as the round pillar and head space, soft curved line of streamlined girder, luxurious red and blue painting, etc.—these show well the fine architecture of the Korean people and national forms of architecture.
The calligraphic board “Taedong Gate” is hanging at the first floor of the gatehouse and “Upho Pavilion” at the second floor. Upho Pavilion means the turret from which one can lift clear water of the Taedong River with one’s hand from the gate tower.
The Taedong Gate always played an important role in defending the Walled City of Pyongyang. In the Imjin Patriotic War the Korean soldiers sailed across the river, going into and out of the Taedong Gate in order to attack suddenly and beat the Japs entrenched in east Pyongyang.
It was seriously damaged by the barbarous bombing of the US imperialists during the Fatherland Liberation War, but it was restored to its original state twice in 1954 and 1959 thanks to the policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea to preserve culture.
The Taedong Gate is now proud of the long history of Pyongyang and used as the cultural resting place of the workers, young people and school children.
The Pothong Gate is the west one in the Walled City of Pyongyang, situated in Pothongmun-dong, Central District, Pyongyang City. It was built as the west gate of the walled city of Pyongyang, the capital of Koguryo in the mid-6th century. It was repaired and rebuilt several times and in 1473 it was rebuilt again.
The Pothong Gate is one of the oldest gates that remain in Korea.
In the period of Koryo it was called the Kwangdok Gate and then Uyanggwan that means the gate where one can see the morning sun again, the Pothong Gate as it is on the bank of the Pothong River, the Sin Gate as it is mysterious, etc.
Seeing guests off in the Pothong Gate has been known as one of the 8 famous scenes of Pyongyang since olden times.
The Pothong Gate is a magnificent, balanced and beautiful building and shows many styles of architecture in the period of Koryo.
It consists of granite embankments and the two-storey gatehouse on them.
The Pothong Gate has an arch, in the middle of the embankment, which is 4.4 m wide and 4.55 m high. At the front of the arch was installed a solid gate dressed with rows of iron pieces on both sides. The gate and installations which locked and stopped it remain.
The gatehouse has the front which is 14.8 m high and the side which is 9.15 m high. Protruding pillars prop up head space and the two-storey gable roof which appears to be flying.
At the second floor of the gatehouse the prongs of the angel rafter on the first floor take place of the pillar, without installing the pillars at the corners. Under the girder of the floor was set up the beautiful truss and on the left and right of it was put the upside-down v-type prop, thus enhancing solidity of the gatehouse. This shows the influence of the Koryo style of architecture.
The Pothong Gate is lower than other gates and the area of the first floor is relatively narrower than that of the second floor, so it looks sublime and stable.
The Pothong Gate was in the important position both in defence and in traffic as the gate to the nort
The Pothong Gate was set fire due to the barbarian bombing of the US imperialists in August, 1952, the period of the Fatherland Liberation War, when the Pyongyangites desperately put the fire out and protected it.
It is well preserved and managed as the national treasure, the valuable cultural heritage of Pyongyang.
