Gwanggaeto Stele

Gwanggaeto Stele
The Gwanggaeto Stele, nearly 7 meters tall
Chinese name
Chinese	好太王碑
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hǎotàiwáng Bēi
Korean name
Hangul	광개토왕릉비 or 호태왕비
Hanja	廣開土王陵碑 or 好太王碑
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Gwanggaeto wangneungbi or Hotae Wangbi McCune–Reischauer Kwanggaet'o wangnŭngbi or Hot'ae Wangbi

The Gwanggaeto Stele is a memorial stele for the tomb of Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo, erected in 414 by his son Jangsu. This monument to Gwanggaeto the Great is the largest engraved stele in the world.^[1][2] It stands near the tomb of Gwanggaeto in the present-day city of Ji'an along the Yalu River in Jilin Province, Northeast China, which was the capital of Goguryeo at that time. It is carved out of a single mass of granite, stands approximately 6.39m tall and has a girth of almost four meters. The inscription is written exclusively in Classical Chinese.

The stele is one of the major primary sources for the history of Goguryeo, and supplies invaluable historical detail on Gwanggaeto's reign as well as insights into Goguryeo mythology. It has also become a focal point of national rivalries in East Asia manifested in the interpretations of the stele's inscription and the place of Goguryeo in modern historical narratives. An exact replica of the Gwanggaeto Stele stands on the grounds of the War Memorial of Seoul^[3] and the rubbed copies made in 1881 and 1883 are in the custody of China and Japan.^[4]