Hanam Iseongsanseong Fortress | Attraction Guide

On September 16, 2000, the entire area inside the fortress, including the walls, was designated as a historic site. It is an S-shaped envelope-style mountain fortress made of granite on Hanam's Iseongsan (209.8m), with walls 4-5m high, a perimeter of 1,925m, and an internal area of 155,025㎡. A distinctive feature is that the approximately 2 km-long walls were built with stones shaped like corn kernels. This fortress is not only adjacent to Gwangju Pungnam-ri Earth Fortress and Mongchon Earth Fortress but also located at the trijunction where the main stream of the Han River meets the Namhan River and Bukhan River. To the north, several fortresses around the Han River can be seen at a glance, while the south and east are blocked by Namhansan and Geomdansan, and the west by hills, providing very advantageous conditions for defending the hinterland plains and the Han River basin. Since 1986, several excavations have uncovered remains of a rectangular pavilion-shaped building, polygonal building sites with eight, nine, and twelve sides from the Three Kingdoms period, and four sites of religious relics. Near the top of the fortress, the eight- and nine-sided buildings are arranged east and west with the rectangular building between them. The rectangular building is believed to have been a military camp or warehouse, main facilities of the fortress; the nine-sided eastern building is presumed to be a celestial altar for sky worship, and the eight-sided western building is thought to be a Sajikdan (earth and grain altar).