The current-founded relics of ancient cities include Gungnae-seong, Wandu Mountain City, 14 Emperor’s Tombs and 26 Aristocrat Tombs. Gungnae-seong and Wandu Mountain City are capital cities of the Kingdom in its early and middle years. The relics in the list of world heritage are: Wunv Mountain City, Gungnae-seong and Wandu Mountain City, 14 Emperor’s Tombs, 26 Aristocrat Tombs, Gwanggae Stele (King Haotai’s Stele) and General Tomb. According to the International Council on Monuments and Sites, capital cities and tombs of the Ancient Koguro Kingdom are accordant to 5 standards: presenting human’s creativity and talent; as cities and tombs in early history, this site reflected the influences of Han people on other minorities and unique murals; It embodies the disappeared Koguro cultures; The cities built of stones and soil are quite influential; This site is a perfect combination of human’s nature and creativity. 

 

The ancient Koguro Kingdom(高句丽王朝Gāogōulí wángcháo), known as the Gaojuli Kingdom, was first built in 37 B.C in Han Dynasty and fell to the Silla-Tang alliance in 668 A.D. The city was sacked several times until the rise of the 19th ruler king Gwanggae to the Great, who greatly expanded Koguro’s territory and made it a formidable power in the northeast Asia. The boundary of the kingdom in its heyday even covered the whole area of present North Korea and Northeast China.

As an influential power in Northeast China Koguro, Kingdom once created glorious history. Large amount of its historic relics have been excavated from Jilin and Liaoning Province of China, most of which are discovered in Hengren and Ji’an, the early political, cultural and economic center of Koguro Kingdom. And all of the relics are of high historical and cultural value. At present, 190 ancient cities of the Kingdom have been excavated, 80 in Jilin, 90 in Liaoning and 20 in North Korea, among which the capital cities and tombs of the ancient Koguro Kingdom are quite valuable.