FORTRESS BUSOSANSEONG

The fortress is said to have been built around 538 to protect the new capital, Buyeo (formerly known as Sabi). For others, it is said to date from 500 and to have been modified in 605. Specialists are unable to agree on this specific point. The royal palace of Baekje stood on Busosan Hill, which is almost 100 m high. There is nothing left of it, but it is a nice walk and some sites are nevertheless interesting. Samchungsa is a shrine dedicated to three Baekje men who were loyal to their king during the fall of the kingdom in 660. Higher up is Yeong-illu, a pavilion from where the kings watched the sun rise. At the top of the mountain are the remains of a grain shed where calcined rice dating back to the taking of the fortress has been discovered. This military shed was used under Goryeo and even under Joseon. Further on stands the Banwollu pavilion, which takes its name from the shape of the river at this location (a half moon), and next to it two Baekje settlement sites have been excavated and reconstructed. The Gungnyeosa Shrine houses three women's portraits depicting the 3,000 women of the Court who preferred to throw themselves off the cliff rather than be dishonoured by the enemy. Further towards the river, the Sajaru pavilion was the place from which kings looked at the stars and the moon; it depicts with Yeong-illu, the sun and the moon, yin and yang. We arrive at the Baekhwajeong ("Hundred Flowers") pavilion on Nakhwaam ("Rock of Fallen Flowers") from where the 3,000 women of the palace jumped, their colourful dresses floating in their fall like flowers carried away by a spring wind. Below this pavilion is Goransa, a small temple dating from Goryeo, whose name derives from a rare medicinal plant that grows nearby, the korancho (a species of orchid). There is also a spring, and legend has it that the kings of Baekje drank no other water than this one. Next to it, a small ferry leaves for the Gudeurae Park and, further after the bridge, the Subukjeong pavilion.

The pretty Geumgang River in Buyeo takes the name Baengmagang ("White Horse River"), because a Chinese general of the Tang Dynasty, when the fortress was taken in 660, hesitated to cross it under the pretext that there was a dragon living there and protecting the kingdom of Baekje. He cut off the head of a white horse and used it as bait to catch the dragon. Once the dragon was caught, the general crossed the river and took Sabi.