- King Taejo of the Joseon Dynasty built Seoul City Wall to protect the city of Seoul against invaders. The wall stretches approximately 18.2km and its area encompasses 467,922㎡. The wall has the four great gates (Heunginjimun Gate of the east, Donuimun Gate of the west, Sungnyemun Gate of the south, and Sukjeongmun Gate of the north) and the four small gates (Honghwamun Gate of the northeast, Gwanghuimun Gate of the southeast, Changuimun Gate of the northwest, and Sodeongmun Gate of the southwest). During King Sejong the Great and King Sukjong's reign, refurbishment efforts were carried out on the wall. Construction period and methods can be identified by the stone bricks of different shapes.
- Take a look at the shapes of stone bricks. You may think that all stone bricks have the same shape, but they don't. They have different shapes and are made of different materials. The time of construction can be divided into three: King Taejo who first constructed Seoul City Wall, King Sejong, and King Sukjong. During King Taejo's reign, rough and natural stone bricks were mainly used and small stones were inserted between stone bricks. In King Sejo's refurbishment efforts, properly sized stones were chiseled. Big stone bricks were laid at the bottom and small stone bricks were situated at the top. Roughly 300 years later, King Sukjong carried out five-year refurbishment efforts. During this work, stone bricks were chiseled into a rectangular shape to allow for substantial structures. Therefore, the time of construction can be estimated on the basis of the shapes of stone bricks.
