History
Seoul History Series · Part 3 of 7
Seoul History Part3 : The Fortress City – Seoul’s Four Great Gates & City Wall
An 18km wall. Four great gates. The structure that defined where Joseon’s Seoul began and ended — and what you can still walk today.
A Note Before We Begin
A City With Walls
Today’s Seoul has no clear boundaries. You can drive from the city center toward the outskirts and barely notice where Seoul ends and Gyeonggi Province begins. Joseon’s Hanyang was completely different. There was a wall.
The city had a precise beginning and a precise end. Inside the wall was Hanyang. Outside was not.
That wall — 18.6km of stone and earth wrapping around the city — is called Hanyangdoseong. Large sections of it still stand. You can walk on top of it today.
01
Hanyangdoseong — The 18km City Wall
Four years after founding Joseon, Yi Seonggye ordered the construction of a city wall around the new capital. Nearly 200,000 workers were mobilized from across the country. The wall was completed in just 98 days.
1396 — Taejo, Year 5 of Joseon.
18.6km — encircling the entire capital.
Average 5–8m. Higher on flat ground, lower on ridgelines.
Roughly 197,000 mobilized from across the country.
Stone on mountain sections. Earthen packed walls on flat ground.
About 70% restored. A continuous hiking trail runs along the wall.
One detail stands out. Each construction team was assigned a specific section of wall, and the name of the responsible region was carved directly into the stones. If the wall collapsed or was built poorly, there was a clear record of who was responsible. Some of those carved inscriptions are still visible in the stones today.
02
The Four Great Gates
Eight gates were set into the wall in total — four large gates at the cardinal points, and four smaller gates between them. The four main gates are known as the Sadaemun.
East Gate · Original
Heunginjimun
Commonly known as Dongdaemun — “Great East Gate.” The only surviving gate with an ongseong, a semicircular outer wall that wraps around the front of the gate, adding a second layer of defense. An enemy who broke through the outer wall would find themselves trapped in a killing ground before reaching the actual gate.
National Treasure No. 1. Still stands in its original location. Subway Line 1 & 4, Dongdaemun Station. Now surrounded by the DDP — one of Seoul’s most dramatic visual contrasts: a Joseon-era stone gate next to a Zaha Hadid spaceship.
West Gate · Demolished
Donuimun
Commonly known as Seodaemun — “Great West Gate.” Demolished in 1915 during the Japanese colonial period, torn down to widen a road. It is the only one of the four great gates that no longer exists. The Seodaemun intersection in present-day Seoul marks the approximate location where it stood. A digital recreation now appears on screens installed near the site.
South Gate · Restored
Sungnyemun
Commonly known as Namdaemun — “Great South Gate.” National Treasure No. 1 for architecture — the oldest wooden structure in Seoul. The south gate was the main entrance to the capital for foreign envoys and official visitors arriving from the south. In February 2008, it was deliberately set on fire by an arsonist and largely destroyed. The restoration took five years and was completed in 2013.
Near Seoul Station, Subway Line 1 & 4. The gate now stands in a small plaza surrounded by traffic — a slightly surreal sight, but worth stopping at.
North Gate · Reconstructed
Sukjeongmun
Also called Bukdaemun — “Great North Gate.” The most unusual of the four gates. Built near the summit of Bugaksan mountain, the north gate was almost never used — the terrain made it impractical as an actual entrance. For most of Joseon’s history, it was kept permanently closed. Today it sits along the Bugaksan ridge trail, which was restricted military land until 2006. Now open to the public as part of the city wall hiking route.
03
The Names — A Philosophy Written Into the City
The four gate names weren’t chosen randomly. Each one encodes one of the five Confucian virtues — the moral pillars of the Joseon state.
Heunginjimun — Benevolence / Humanity.
Donuimun — Righteousness.
Sungnyemun — Propriety / Ritual.
Sukjeongmun — Wisdom.
Bosingak, on Jongno — Integrity / Trust.
The fifth virtue — integrity — was placed at the center of the city: Bosingak, the bell pavilion on Jongno Street. The bell inside was rung at dawn to open the gates and at dusk to close them, regulating the rhythm of daily life in the capital.
These weren’t just gates. Joseon was encoding its entire state philosophy — what it meant to be a just kingdom — into the physical geography of the city.
04
The Four Small Gates
Between each of the four great gates sat a smaller gate. These were used for daily foot traffic and specific purposes — some more grim than others.
Northeast · Restored
Hyehwamun
Also called Dongsomun. A restored gate structure exists today near Hyehwa Station, Subway Line 4.
Northwest · Original
Changuimun
Also called Jahamun. The only gate among all eight — large and small — that survives in its original, unrestored form. Located at the entrance to the Bugaksan trail. A hidden gem most tourists miss entirely.
Southwest · Demolished
Soeuimun
Also called Seosomun. Demolished during the Japanese colonial period. Notable as the gate through which the bodies of executed criminals were carried out — including Christian martyrs in the 19th century.
Southeast · Restored
Gwanghuimun
Also called Sugumun — the “water gate,” as it sat near a stream outlet through the wall. Also used to carry corpses out of the city during outbreaks of disease. Restored and standing near Dongdaemun History & Culture Park.
05
Inside the Wall — How the City Was Structured
The population inside the wall grew from roughly 100,000 in early Joseon to over 200,000 by the late dynasty — making it one of the largest cities in the world at the time. Social class determined where you lived. The layout was not random.
North Village
The hillside neighborhood between Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung. Home to high-ranking officials and aristocratic families. The neighborhood that is now Bukchon Hanok Village.
South Village
The area south of Cheonggyecheon stream toward Namsan. Home to middle-class officials, scholars, and skilled tradespeople. The present-day Namsan and Jung-gu area.
Jongno
The main commercial street running east to west through the capital. Government-licensed shops lined this road. Still one of Seoul’s primary streets today.
Cheonggyecheon
The stream running through the center of the city. Served as the primary drainage and water system. Covered over in the 1970s, then restored and reopened as a public waterway in 2005.
The difference in character between Bukchon and the Namsan area today — the quiet, traditional feel of one versus the denser, more layered urban feel of the other — is not accidental. It traces back directly to who lived where inside the wall 500 years ago.
06
What the Japanese Colonial Period Did to the Wall
If you walk the city wall trail today, you’ll notice gaps. Sections where the wall suddenly stops and restarts. Those gaps have a specific cause.
During the Japanese colonial period (1910–1945), the colonial government systematically dismantled portions of Hanyangdoseong. Roads were widened through the wall. Tram lines were laid across it. Donuimun — the west gate — was demolished entirely in 1915 to make way for a road.
This wasn’t purely practical. The destruction of the city wall — the physical boundary of the Joseon capital — was also symbolic. Erasing the structure of the old Korean state was part of how colonial governance worked.
The gaps in the wall you see today are not decay. They are a record of what happened to this city during 35 years of occupation.
Restoration of Hanyangdoseong began in earnest in the 1970s and has continued through the present. About 70% of the original wall has been restored. South Korea has applied for UNESCO World Heritage status for the city wall — a decision still pending.
07
What Travelers Can See Today
The city wall trail is one of the best and most underrated things you can do in Seoul. Here’s how to approach it.
Sungnyemun (South Gate / Namdaemun)
Near Seoul Station, Subway Line 1 & 4. The oldest wooden structure in Seoul. The restored gate stands in a small plaza — surrounded by traffic, which makes the scale of the building even more striking up close. Free to view from outside at any time.
Heunginjimun (East Gate / Dongdaemun)
Subway Line 1 & 4, Dongdaemun Station. The gate with the semicircular outer defensive wall. Right next to the DDP — the contrast between the 15th-century stone gate and Zaha Hadid’s building is one of Seoul’s most photographed scenes. Both are worth exploring together.
Changuimun (Northwest Small Gate)
Bus from the Gyeongbokgung Station area. The only gate surviving in its original unrestored form — and almost no tourists know about it. The Bugaksan hiking trail starts here, running along the ridgeline with the city wall. Views over central Seoul from the ridge are exceptional.
Hanyangdoseong Trail — Naksan Section
Start near Hyehwa Station, Subway Line 4. The easiest section of the full wall trail — about 2km, walkable in under an hour. The wall runs along the Naksan ridgeline with views over the Ihwa Mural Village and central Seoul. Good for an evening walk. The full trail connecting all mountain sections takes a full day.
Bosingak Bell Pavilion (Jongno)
Subway Line 1, Jonggak Station. The pavilion that held the bell rung to open and close the city gates each day — representing the fifth Confucian virtue, integrity. Still standing at the center of Jongno, Seoul’s oldest commercial street. The bell is rung publicly every New Year’s Eve.
Practical Note — City Wall Trail
The full Hanyangdoseong trail is divided into sections by mountain: Naksan, Heunginjimun (flat), Namsan, Sungnyemun (flat), Inwangsan, and Bugaksan. Each section has its own access points and difficulty level.
The Bugaksan section, near Changuimun, requires ID registration at the entrance — a holdover from when this was a restricted military zone. Bring your passport.
Up Next in the Series
Part 4 — How Seoul Crossed the River
Until the 1960s, the land south of the Han River was farmland and rice paddies. How Gangnam was built from nothing — and why it became the most expensive real estate in Korea.