The respected Comrade
"A valuable legacy created by our ancestors through their struggle and creative activities, historical sites and relics are an asset of the nation that should be handed down from one generation to the next."
Altar No. 1 in Hwasong-dong that was unearthed, from November and December 1996 and from March and May 1997, at the village of Tangmoru in Hwawon-dong No.1, Hwasong District, Pyongyang(former Hwasong-dong, Ryongsong District) is one of the precious cultural wealth that conveys the time-honored history and excellent cultural traditions of Korea.
Two altar sites were found in the village of Tangmoru, about 3 km away from the road to Hwasong District, one of which is the altar No. 1 in Hwasong-dong in the east of the village.
It is situated on a low hill formed by the ridge stretching to the south from Mt. Tolpak in the north of Tangmoru and sloping to the flatland in the south.
Altar No. 1 largely consists of altar and yard.
The altar zone was built by cutting a layer of stonemason on a small hill about 20m high, and then covering and packing flat the red clay to lay the foundation floor that was 35m long from south to north, 30m wide from east to west and 1 to 1.5m thick.
Then altar facilities were built of stones, sloping towards the north on the foundation floor, the size of which is 20m long from east to west and 18m wide from north to south.
They consist of altar and a set of stairs. The altar was made up of large stones of granite material (2~3 m long, 1~2 m wide and 1~1.5 m thick) with a slightly curved outer surface on the foundation floor packed with clay, seven or eight of which were put on four sides in all directions respectively to be bulged outside so as to be arranged in edgeless square and filled with stones and earth.
Stones surrounding the outer surface of the altar were generally cut to be flat on the top and slightly curved outside. In particular, a stone placed on the edge to the southwest made the bending edge at an angle of 120 degrees to plane off the edge, thus forming a curve.
According to the arrangement of stones around the altar, it is believed that a processed stone was put on four edges with eight processed stones fitted exactly together on both sides from south to north and seven ones on the right and left from east to west.
The altar was also covered with rubbles, which are interspersed with rocks of similar size and appearance to the stones outside. Large stones laid on the altar floor were 16 to the southwest, 12 to the southeast, 9 to the northwest, and 7 to the northeast.
Before the south side, which is the front of the altar, river pebbles were laid in two or three layers at a width of 1.5 m.
In front of its south side are the facilities for ensuring majestic appearance and formative beauty of stone steps and altar.
Stone steps were built by placing the long rectangular stones in the east and west direction in the central part of the south side, and clay foundation on the front of the south side and the thickness of stepping steps show that it consisted of three staircases.
There is the yard to the south of the altar zone. It is located about 50cm lower than the altar zone, which is 40m long from east to west and 45m wide from north to south.
The yard was built by cutting the layer of weathered gneiss, spreading and packing clay horizontally without any facilities. It was connected to the front of the altar, from which we can see it was used as a place people gathered when memorial services were held there.
Outside the yard can be seen three sides towards east, west and south sloping down to the plain.
Two pieces of top-shaped bowl mouth, six pieces of its body parts and two root-shaped arrowheads made of finely ground slate were excavated from the bottom of the southeast zone of the altar.
Top-shaped bowls and root-shaped arrowheads are the relics often found in the Bronze Age remains left by Korean ancestors in the basin of the River Taedong with Pyongyang as centre by the time Ancient Joson was founded.
Altar No. 1 in Hwasong-dong was proved to be an early site of Tangun Korea in the first half of 3 000 B.C. in view of such remains as pieces of top-shaped bowls and root-shaped arrowheads excavated.
The historical books of Korea such as The Heritage of the Three States and Chronicles of the Feudal Joson Dynasty say that the history of Korean nation began with Tangun and the worship for him was handed down to the modern times across the country.
Altar No. 1 in Hwasong-dong shows that it was used for memorial services for Tangun, the father of Korean nation, in the period of Ancient Joson, in terms of its whole structure, unearthed remains and historical records.
It was the sanctuary where the ancient Koreans held memorial services for Tangun after his death in the tenth month of the lunar calendar every year, regarding him as the heaven-sent king and worshipping him as a divine being.
It is a valuable cultural heritage showing the time-honored history and brilliant culture of the Korean nation and saying that Korean ancestors worshipped Tangun as the real founder of Ancient Joson and the father of Korean nation.
