Oksanseowon Confucian Academy, Gyeongju

Founded in 1572 for Yi Eon-jeok, whose thinking passed to Toegye and through him shaped the southeastern school of Korean Neo-Confucianism. The name-plaque came from the king the following year. The plan is the standard one — study in front, shrine behind — and this is a good place to read it, because the two are clearly separated by ground level and by wall. The lecture hall, Guinjang, burned in 1839 and was rebuilt. Beyond it are the gate, a two-storey pavilion, and the students' quarters on either side. The reason scholars still come is the archive. Yi's own manuscript drafts are here, as is a complete nine-volume set of the Samguk Sagi, the twelfth-century history that is the oldest surviving account of the Three Kingdoms. The academy survived the closures of the 1860s with its collection unbroken, which almost none of them did.

Original Text

Visiting

Opening hours

Open 24 hr

Closed

N/A (Open all year round)

Admission

Free

Parking

Available

Information

• 1330 Travel Hotline: +82-2-1330 <br> (Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese) <br> • For more info: +82-54-762-6567

Visitor information: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1

Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Historic Site · 사적