It was appointed 140th Memorial of Jeollanam Province in Mar 9. 1992 and re-appointed 397th Historical Relic in Apr 18. 1997.  93,139§³-wide, it is the general commander's headquarters of Jeolla Army of Chosun Dynasty.  The Knight Base of Gwangsan was moved to here in 1417 (17th year of the reign of Chosun King Taejong).  Cheon-Mok Ma, the first commander, built the fortress when he commanded 53 counties and 6 bases of Jeolla Province.  It is also called "Snow Fortress" as Ma followed to plan on the snow he saw in his dream.  It was built to defend from the Japanese Invaders that frequently appeared in South Sea.  It was transferred Jangheung as Yul Gwon, a provincial commander, suggested in 1599 and was re-moved to the original placed in 1604.  As the fortress was captured by Donghak Farmer's Troop in 1894, it was damaged severely to be abandoned in 1895 (32nd year of the reign of Chosun King Gojong).  By the time of its abandonment, there were 5,983 people and 1,889 residents.  According to ¡¶Great East Atlas¡· and ¡¶Old County Maps¡·, the stone structure was 854.64m in circumference and 5.45m in height with 302 additional walls, 12 semicircular projections, two batteries, five evacuation chambers and nine wells.  Also, there were 2-story South, East and North Gates.  Many public offices and pavilions were collapsed during the Japanese Colonization.  It is a fortress built on a flat land in a rectangular shape slightly longer longitudinally and its total length is 1,650m.  The fortress has longer longitudinal walls with the east wall assemmetrically shorter than the west wall.  A stream flows through the northeast of the walls.  Some people say that this stream a moat.  The structure is completely built with stones on the inner and outer walls.  The stones are mostly natural stones, but the outer walls used refined stones.  Just as the general fortresses, the lower stones are larger and the upper stones become smaller.  This wall, currently used as the walls of Byeongyeong Elementary School, is stably built with 2m in width.  On the other hand, a part of the wall in the resident of Mr. Sam-Ok Park only has an outer wall supported by a mud wall in the inside.  As a southwest military base of Chosun Dynasty, it became a defensive base and an army headquarters.  It was also used to keep Hamel, a Dutch from Netherlands who was stranded in Jeju Island, for 8 years.