Mt Kumgang, World Cultural and Natural Heritage
Superior Historic and Cultural Heritages of Famous Mountain
Mt Kumgang has been known as the best scenic spot in the world from olden times for not only its natural beauty but also its abundance of superior historic and cultural heritages created and developed by our ancestors for thousands of years.
Preserved there are lots of relics and architectural heritages.
Along with these, it has uncountable myriads of stone patterns, poems, landscapes and lots of intangible cultural heritages including legends, episodes and folk songs.
There were nearly ２００ temples and hermitages in the Mt. Kumgang area, but six temples and hermitages are left at present.
Singye Temple(AD５１９), Jongyang Temple(６００), Podok Hermitage(６２７), Pulji Hermitage(６６６) and Phyohun Temple(６７０) are mountainous temples which are typical architectural heritages.
Also remaining in the mountain are sites of many temples and hermitages and pavilions with a fine view.
The old architectural structures of Mt Kumgang show the excellent architecture well.
In particular, Podok Hermitage, a combination of Podok Cave which is halfway up the dizzy cliff and a wooden structure which is on a ７.３-metre-high copper pillar, is the one built in the Koguryo period which arouses admiration of the visitors.
Besides, there are stone lamps, stupas, tombstones, stone bridge and stone castles with a long history.
There are lots of writings left on natural rocks from before ９th century to early ２０th century whose number is large enough to be found in no famous mountains of other countries.
Better still, there are quite a few precious handwritings of the most renowned calligraphers and writers.
As it has a variety of stone writings with different hands, Mt Kumgang is the prominent stone calligraphy heritage region of great value in studying the history of calligraphy and epigraphy of East Asia.
The mountain has been an object of worship and love to the Korean people and songs in praise of the mountain were created and widely sung from between late in the ６th century and early in the ７th century.
According to elementary statistics, over ５００ poems about Mt Kumgang were written until the １９th century.
Mt Kumgang has also the most legends and episodes in the history of our country.
Among them are real historical facts, ones related to scenic spots and mysterious rocks, ones about fantastic characters and humorous yet edifying stories showing our people’s pure hearts and good manners and customs.
The mountain has been admired by lots of famous painters.
A number of great painters of the day left landscapes of the mountain.
On the whole, Mt Kumgang is a typical mountain which demonstrates the harmony of extraordinary natural features and human culture in a peculiar way.
From of old, lots of foreigners have regarded it as their lifetime wish to visit Mt Kumgang.
The mountain still distinguishes itself as the celebrated mountain of the country and the world which everyone wishes to visit even once a lifetime.
Together with superior historic and cultural heritages, Mt Kumgang, the people’s mountain with superb scenic beauty, is further gaining fame as the one and only treasure of the DPRK and treasure common to mankind.
Rodong Sinmun