Sosuseowon Confucian Academy, Yeongju

In 1542 the local magistrate built a shrine here to An Hyang, the scholar who had brought Neo-Confucianism to Korea two centuries earlier. A year later he added lecture rooms and started teaching, and in 1550 the king sent a name-plaque — Sosu, "restoring what was lost" — making this the first private academy the state formally endorsed. Every seowon in Korea descends from that moment. Because it came first, it does not follow the plan the later academies settled into. There are no matching east and west halls flanking the lecture room; the buildings sit where the ground suited them, and the students' quarters are told apart by the boards over their doors rather than by their position. The shrine stands off to the north-west behind its own wall. A Unified Silla temple, Suksusa, stood on this ground before the academy did, and its flagpole supports and column bases are still in the grass. When the regent closed the country's academies in the 1860s, Sosu was one of forty-seven allowed to remain. Rites are still held here each spring and autumn.

Original Text

Visiting

Opening hours

March-May & September-October 09:00-17:00June-August 09:00-18:00November-February 09:00-16:00* Admission is one hour before closing.

Closed

N/A (Open all year round)

Parking

Available

Information

+82-54-639-5852

Visitor information: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1

Where it is

Region

Yeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Historic Site · 사적