The culture of Goguryeo was shaped by its climate, religion, and the tense society that people dealt with due to the numerous wars Goguryeo waged. Not much is known about Goguryeo culture, as many records have been lost. Goguryeo art, preserved largely in tomb paintings, is noted for the vigour and fine detail of its imagery. Many of the art pieces have an original style of painting, depicting various traditions that have continued throughout Korea's history. Cultural legacies of Goguryeo are found in modern Korean culture, for example: Korean fortress, ssireum, taekkyeon, Korean dance, ondol (Goguryeo's floor heating system) and the hanbok.

Remains of walled towns, fortresses, palaces, tombs, and artifacts have been found in North Korea and Manchuria, including ancient paintings in a Goguryeo tomb complex in Pyongyang. Some ruins are also still visible in present-day China, for example at Wunü Mountain, suspected to be the site of Jolbon fortress, near Huanren in Liaoning province on the present border with North Korea. Ji'an is also home to a large collection of Goguryeo era tombs, including what Chinese scholars consider to be the tombs of Gwanggaeto and his son Jangsu, as well as perhaps the best-known Goguryeo artifact, the Gwanggaeto Stele, which is one of the primary sources for pre-5th-century Goguryeo history.

The modern English name "Korea" derives from Goryeo (also spelled as Koryŏ) (918–1392), which regarded itself as the legitimate successor of Goguryeo. The name Goryeo was first used during the reign of Jangsu in the 5th century.