Naksan Park & Seoul City Wall

Character

Rough fieldstone, carefully squared blocks and inscribed stones appear within a few minutes of one another on Naksan’s stretch of Hanyangdoseong. The masonry records successive Joseon building campaigns so clearly that a short ridge walk can double as a lesson in how Seoul’s wall was built

Naksan rises only about 124 metres, and the wall stays close to houses, roads and neighborhood paths. From the ridge, Daehangno and Dongdaemun spread below a fortification that once marked Hanyang’s edge. Six centuries of urban growth have moved the boundary from the city’s perimeter into its everyday fabric

The experience

The official Naksan section links Hyehwamun and Heunginjimun across 3.2 kilometres of easy ridge walking. Close inspection pays off. Early sections use rougher stone; later repairs become more regular and finely finished. Some blocks carry inscriptions that identify the places and people responsible for construction, turning an apparently continuous wall into a record assembled by different workforces at different times

The ridge also gives the wall unusually clear urban context. Residential lanes meet the trail, modern streets cut across the old defensive line, and city views open beside the stonework. The experience is compact enough to focus on masonry detail without losing the larger fact that this was once part of an 18.6-kilometre capital defense system

History

Hanyangdoseong was first built in 1396 along the ridges of Baegak, Naksan, Namsan and Inwangsan. The project mobilized about 197,400 workers during two 49-day construction periods. Work was divided into assigned sections, linking parts of the wall to counties and prefectures across the kingdom. On mountain ground, builders used roughly shaped natural stone; lower sections also included rammed earth

King Sejong’s rebuilding in 1422 replaced earthen stretches with stone and introduced more regular masonry. Repairs under King Sukjong from 1704 used standardized square blocks roughly 40–45 centimetres across, while later work employed still larger and more finely finished stone. Those differences remain visible on Naksan and allow the wall itself to show its construction chronology

Inscribed stones add a human administrative layer. They could record a construction section, the originating locality, supervisors or technicians responsible for the work. Modern roads and urban expansion later removed substantial parts of Seoul City Wall, making surviving and restored sections on Naksan especially useful for reading how the structure changed over time

Before you go

Use Hyehwamun and Heunginjimun as the natural ends of a point-to-point walk. Starting near Hansung Univ. or Hyehwa connects easily to the Naksan ridge; Dongdaemun is the convenient anchor at the eastern end. The trail passes close to residential areas, so keep voices low around the hillside villages