Myeonghwalseong () or Myeonghwalsanseong () was a

Silla Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...

-era Korean fortress on the mountain Myeonghwalsan in what is now

Gyeongju Gyeongju (, ), historically known as Seorabeol (, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, covering with a population of ...

, South Korea. On January 21, 1963, it was made Historic Site of South Korea No. 47. It is part of the UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

entitled Gyeongju Historic Areas, as part of the Sanseong Fortress Belt. It is not known with certainty when the fortress was first constructed. There is a record in the ''

Samguk sagi ''Samguk sagi'' () is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. Completed in 1145, it is well-known in Korea as the oldest surviving chronicle of Korean history. The ''Samguk sagi'' is written in Classical ...

'' of the fortress being attacked in 405 AD (

Korean calendar Throughout its many years of history, various calendar systems have been used in Korea. Many of them were adopted from the Lunar calendar, lunar Chinese calendar system, with modifications occasionally made to accommodate Korea's geographic locat ...

). It was attacked by Japanese invaders in 431. It was repaired in 473, and King Jabi moved into it in 475. There are records of it being rebuilt in 551, 554, and 593. It was likely abandoned after 647, after it was captured by

Bidam Bidam (, ? – 26 February 647) was a Silla politician who served as Sangdaedeung from 645 to 647. He is most known for leading a rebellion against Queen Seondeok of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Prior to his rebellion, he held the ...

's rebels. There are no known signs of activity at this site that date to after the 7th century. Currently, the fortress is mostly in ruins. Archaeological digs have identified six sites where buildings likely once stood. A survey on the site was performed in 1998. From 2012 to 2014, another survey was conducted, which found further evidence that the fortress was reconstructed a number of times.

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Myeonghwalseong Coordinates on Wikidata Castles in South Korea Historic Sites of South Korea Gyeongju Historic Areas Buildings and structures of Silla Former buildings and structures in Gyeongju