Hwagyeongdang House in Hahoe, Andong

Hahoe Village in Andong is a clan village of the Pungsan Yu family, a Joseon-period village of the yangban (scholar-official) class that has well preserved its outstanding natural scenery together with its folk and Confucian traditions. Among its houses, Hwagyeongdang House, together with Yangjindang House (a treasure), is one of the large houses representative of Hahoe's northern village (Bukchon), standing at its centre. It was built in 1862, the 13th year of King Cheoljong, by Yu Do-seong, who had served as a dosa (assistant magistrate) of Gyeongsang Province; the present building has since been repaired several times. It consists broadly of an anchae (women's quarters), sarangchae (men's quarters), byeoldangchae (detached annexe), daemungan-chae (gate quarters) and a shrine. The building that comes into view on entering the main gate is the ㅁ-shaped main house, and the building to its right is the byeoldangchae. The shrine stands further in, past the byeoldangchae, enclosed by its own separate wall. The main house, made up of the anchae and sarangchae, has a perfectly square, ㅁ-shaped plan. The front part is the sarangchae, with the large sarang room on the right and the small sarang room on the left, each with a daecheong (wooden-floored hall) at its end bay. In the large sarang room hangs a plaque reading 'Hwagyeongdang' (和敬堂), said to be written by Han Seok-bong, and the room behind it is a study. Behind the daecheong of the small sarang, a one-bay room adjoins the lower kitchen room. The anchae was built on a high stone platform, with its pillars also raised very high. Centred on the inner daecheong, the kitchen and main room (anbang) lie to the left, and to the right is the geonneobang (upper sangbang), used as the room of the son and daughter-in-law. The anbang has a 田-shaped layout in the style typical of Hamgyeong Province, and the kitchen, more than three bays in size, adjoins a two-bay lower room. The room in front of the geonneobang, connected to a toenmaru (narrow wooden veranda) — the lower sangbang — was used by elderly parents who had handed over the running of the household. The byeoldangchae measures seven bays across the front and two bays deep, arranged in the order of kitchen, ondol (heated) room, daecheong and wooden-floored room; it has many plaques hanging in it and is decorated with numerous architectural ornaments. A separate sarangchae was built plainly, with three doors. It is one of the large houses of Hahoe's Bukchon and is valued as precious material, an example representative of a yangban house. This heritage site is usually open to the public, but access may be restricted for personal reasons such as those of the owner.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Andong, Gyeongbuk

Designation

National Folklore Heritage · 국가민속문화유산