Jo Jan 13, 2025
Ocha Rock is on the south-west shore of Lagoon Monggum tens of kilometers away from the town of Ryongyon County, South Hwanghae Province, DPRK.
Jangsan Point is the extension of the Pultha mountain range, forming a peninsula. Jangsan Point was formed by the abrasion of quartzite.
The singular Ocha Rock was also formed by such phenomenon. On the shore are standing some cliffs as high as ten to thirty meters. Ocha Rock is twelve to fifteen meters tall and about ten meters round in its bottom.
Ocha Rock is made up of regular layers.
This rare rock formed by abrasion and weathering is of great academic significance and also of great rarity on the coast of the Korean West Sea.
...
Jo Jan 8, 2025
More than ten old Kwangmyong Zelkova trees are growing by Jogye Gate of the Sogwang Temple about twenty kilometers north of the seat of Kosan County, Kangwon Province, DPRK.
These trees are said to have been planted in 1386, when the Sogwang Temple was being built.
The largest one is 27 meters tall, with the root collar of 9.8 meters round, the chest-height of 8 meters round and the canopy of 25 meters in diameter. The smallest one is 12 meters tall, with the root collar of 2.4 meters round, the chest-height of 2.3 meters round and the canopy of 8 meters in diameter.
These large old trees are designated as a living monument and in good preservation and care as they are of academic and educational significance and add beauty to the Sogwang Temple.
...
Jo Jan 4, 2025
Among the rare and beautiful natural monuments of our country is the Isonnam Falls.
It is in the Chonthae Valley of Mt. Myohyang, a superb scenic beauty.
It was called fraternal falls as the waters had been falling in parallel with each other like good brothers for a long time.
In May, 1981, Chairman
Since then, it has been called “Isonnam Falls”.
The falls are 22 meters in height, and 6 to 10 meters and 4 to 8 meters in width, respectively.
The waters fall along the inclined rock, at the protrusion of which they spout forward.
At the bottom is a three-meter-deep pool hollowed by the waterfall.
Isonnam Falls, whose waters fall vigorously in two lines as if competing with each other, is a precious living monument that adds beauty to the natural landscape of the area for its peculiar and beautiful appearance and serves as a cultural resort for the people.
...
Jo Dec 11, 2024
The Monument to the Great Victory in Yonsong Area is in Yonan County Town, South Hwanghae Province. It was erected in 1608, in commemoration of the victory in the battle on Yonan Fort during the Imjin Patriotic War.
During the war, the Korean people organized themselves into volunteer armies in all parts of the country and waged a vigorous struggle to drive out the Japanese invaders.
During those days, there was a proud story in which the righteous volunteers led by Ri Jong Am defended Yonan Fort to the last by beating back three thousand Japanese invaders.
The monument tells about the death-defying battles to repulse the Japanese invaders who attacked the fort from late August to early September in 1592.
The monument is standing on a double-layer rectangular pedestal block of granite. The body is made of black marble and the top is faced to form a semicircle without a head stone.
The inscription is said to have been composed by Ri Hang Bok, who was known as a clever writer in those days.
The Monument to the Great Victory in Yonsong Area, like the Monument to the Great Victory in Pukgwan, is a precious national treasure relic that tells about the victory won by the Korean people in the struggle to drive back the Japanese aggressors during the Imjin Patriotic War.
...
Jo Dec 8, 2024
Seven-storey Tower at Hyonhwa Temple was originally standing on the site of a temple called Hyonhwa Temple at the foot of Mt. Ryongchu in Wolgo-ri, Jangphung County, Kaesong City, but at present it is in Koryo Museum.
According to the historical records, the tower was built in 1020.
It consists of a platform, the body of seven stories and a head.
It is 8.64 meters high and each side of the platform is 3.9 meters long. It is rather tall as a stone tower of the Koryo age.
On each side of the platform are three pillars between which properly faced brick-shaped stones are neatly piled in five layers. Thick plate stones are placed on the top of the platform. Such formation of the platform is rare for stone towers.
What is so unusual about the tower is curved eaves and corner columns.
On the seven body stones are engraved with Buddhist images, which shows excellent and sophisticated engraving.
The tower is large in scale and made in considerable dimensions with exquisite workmanship of parts and a good harmony of the whole and the parts.
The tower is a precious national treasure showing the tower architecture of Korean ancestors and its development.
...
Jo Dec 3, 2024
The Wooden Bridge of the Taedong River was built in the period of Koguryo to link Chongho-dong in Taesong District with Hyuam-dong in Sadong District, Pyongyang City.
Around the bridge are several historical sites of the Koguryo age. To the north are Taesongsan Fort and Anhak Palace, and to the northwest and northeast are Chongam-ri Castle and Kobangsan Fort. To the south on the other side are the Mausoleum of King Tongmyong, the founder of Koguryo, and Jongrung Temple, the temple of the mausoleum. The location of these historical sites implies that the bridge was a major traffic route connecting the royal palace of Koguryo and the southern area to the Taedong River.
At the east entrance to the bridge is a log frame interlocked for a light pole. The frames of the bridge are mostly thick timber girders 38 centimeters wide, 26 centimeters thick and 8 to 10 centimeters long.
The traces of the bridge show that it was a large bridge about 375 meters long and about 9 meters wide, with a thick floor covering and railings on tightly-fit supporting planks on massive supporting pillars of interlocked log frames.
At the time of discovery, not only wooden frameworks but also many pieces of roofing tiles and earthenware of the Koguryo age were unearthed in the vicinity of the bridge, which indicates the long history of the bridge.
The bridge was one of the oldest and largest bridges of great rarity in the world as well as in our country at that time.
The size of the bridge and its structural elements, and the skills in strong fabrication by the dovetail joint demonstrate the high level of wooden construction techniques of the Koguryo people.
...
© 2021 Kim Chaek University of Technology