Capital Cities and Tombs of Ancient Koguryo Kingdom

Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in and around the city of Ji'an, Jilin province. The site was designated a cultural World Heritage Site in 2004, qualifying as such under the first five of the six criteria for cultural heritage sites. The site contains the archaeological remains of three cities (Wunü Mountain City, Guonei City, and Wandu Mountain City), and forty identified tombs of Koguryo imperial and noble families.

Koguryo was a kingdom that ruled part of northeast China and the northern-half of the Korean Peninsula from 37 BC to 668 AD. The remains we see today are evidence of its once splendid, but vanished, civilization.

Capital cities

Wunü Mountain City was the first capital of Koguryo Kingdom, which was an ancient Korean dynasty. Guonei City and Wandu Mountain City were also capitals of the Koguryo Kingdom. These areas are now part of Chinese territory but during its creation, belonged to Koguryo Kingdom, an ancient Korean dynasty.

Wunü Mountain City is only partly excavated. Guonei City, within the modern city of Ji’an, played the role of a supporting capital after the main Koguryo capital moved to Pyongyang. Wandu Mountain City contains many vestiges including a large palace and many tombs.

The capital cities of the Koguryo Kingdom are an early example of mountain cities, later imitated by neighbouring cultures. The system of capital cities represented by Guonei City and Wandu Mountain City also influenced the construction of later capitals built by the Koguryo regime. The capital cities of the Koguryo Kingdom represent a perfect blending of human creation and nature whether with the rocks or with forests and rivers.

Tombs

There are about seven thousand tombs outside of the mountain city and many of them have exquisite murals, rich in content and color, showing the Koguryo kingdom's culture and daily life. Hunting, wars, religions (Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism), and other aspects of life are depicted.

According to archeological research, the General's Tomb--located northeast of Ji'an City--is said to be the tomb of the twentieth emperor. It looks quite like the tomb of the Pharaoh in ancient Egypt and thus was given the name: the Oriental Pyramid.

So far, only three written relics have been found telling of Koguryo's history. Among them, the Hao Tai Wang monument (or stele) has the longest and richest content. The monument was built to commemorate the nineteenth emperor, and the inscription recorded the emperor's merits and achievements as well as the legend of the beginning and development of the Koguryo. Engraved in Chinese characters, the inscription shows the cultural blend of the Koguryo and the Chinese.

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