symbol of the Joseon dynasty for sovereignty, as well as a place for military security until the 20th century. The rich history of Namhansanseong shows the exchange of Buddhist, Confucian, folk religion and Christian values from the time the fortress was constructed to the present day. The 17th century mountain fortress Namhansanseong was constructed as a planned city both to serve as an emergency capital city during war and an administrative center in peace. Traditional villages were typically located on flat lands adjacent to mountain fortresses built for shelter in emergencies. Namhansanseong was a self-sufficient defensive fortress where the local administrative town was placed within the fortress together with the Emergency Palace. Thus, it performed various functions such as defense, administration, business and royal ancestral rites. Unlike those seen in Europe and Japan that were intended to defend only the ruling class, Namhansanseong was a defensive structure within which both the ruling class and commoners alike could shelter. Since the 17th century, Namhansanseong has been inhabited by over 4,000 people and has been managed and preserved by the residents for generations. Most fortress towns in Korea underwent severe deformation and change during Japanese colonial times and the period of industrialization and urbanization, resulting in losing their original layout and forms. However, Namhansanseong retained its original layout because the Japanese colonial government relocated the administrative functions and demolished its military functions in the earlier stage of colonization, leaving it as an isolated mountain village thereafter. The characteristics of Namhansanseong have changed a lot throughout its history. It served as a military and administrative center with the Emergency Palace and administrative offices from 1627 to 1917. It was the center of the civil resistance movement (Uibyeong) centering on Buddhist monk soldier temples (Seungyeong) when the Joseon Dynasty fell and the Japanese colonial period was approaching in the early 20th century. However, the fortress was demolished and the temples were forced into closure by the Japanese in 1907. The fortress lost its function as the town center due to the relocation of the Gwangju County Office in 1917, resulting in a downgrade to a remote mountain village. Then, the fortress suffered population loss and material loss during the Korean War. Nowadays, Namhansanseong is a tourist attraction, after undergoing large-scale wall restorations and being designated as a provincial park since the 1970s. It has seen a dramatic increase in the number of restaurants and