We started off going to Hwaseong Fortress, located in Suwon. Suwon is the provincial capital of Gyonggi-do province. It is about 20 miles south of Seoul, and is traditionally known as "The City of Filial Piety". King Jeonjo made an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to make Suwon the nation's capital in 1796 with the construction of Hwaseong Fortress, a fortified wall running around the entire city intended to guard the tomb of his father. The walls once encircled the entire city, but recent urban growth has seen the city spread out far beyond the fortress.
Hwaseong Fortress, Historic Site No. 3, was built in 1794-1796 during the reign of King Jeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty. Although it is relatively small in scale compared with Hanyangseong Fortress, the fortress, constructed with the most advanced technology of the day was more solidly built. Unlike other structures of the age which were constructed of stones, Suwon Castle was built of bricks and with the very first Korean crane. This has been recognized by experts as the best structure of its kind built before the Industrial Revolution. The four gates of Paldalmun, Changganmun, Hwasomun, and Changnyongmun surround the fortress. Suwon Hwasong Fortress was designated as new site on the World Heritage List, at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee Meeting held in Naples, Italy on December 4. 1997.
One of the Fortress' gates
Painted on the inside of the arch
This is one of the original structures
We took a break for some entertainment before we visited the palace and the rest of the fortress.
That is a small child on the top of that stack of people! And then they threw him to another stack of people!
Tristan really enjoyed the swordfighting exhibitions.
I just thought this was a cool close up of the roof tiles.
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