Munuihyanggyo Local Confucian School, Cheongju

A hyanggyo, a local Confucian school, was a state-established institution built to hold memorial rites for eminent Confucian scholars and to provide Confucian education and moral instruction to local residents. It is not known exactly when Munuihyanggyo was first built; it originally stood at the foot of Yangseongsan Mountain, was moved elsewhere in 1609, the first year of King Gwanghaegun, and was then relocated to its present site in 1683, the ninth year of King Sukjong. When Munui County was merged into Cheongju in 1888, the twenty-fifth year of Emperor Gojong's reign, the school was abolished; after Munui County was restored in 1893, the school was rebuilt the following year. It was merged with Cheongju Hyanggyo in 1906, then underwent a major restoration in 1925. The present buildings were rebuilt in 1980 and repaired again in 1988. Daeseongjeon Hall, which houses the memorial tablets of Confucian scholars of China and Korea, measures three kan across the front and three kan along the side, with a simple gable roof whose profile resembles the Chinese character 人 (person). Myeongnyundang Hall, the lecture hall where students gathered to study, measures four kan across the front and two kan along the side, with an ornate hipped-and-gabled roof shaped like the character 八 (eight). The complex also includes inner and outer three-bay gates and a hongsalmun, a red-spiked gate, at the entrance. The school follows the typical layout of a lecture hall in front and a shrine behind: Myeongnyundang Hall, the space for study, stands at the front, while Daeseongjeon Hall, the space for ancestral rites, occupies the higher ground at the rear. During the Joseon period the school was supported by land, slaves and books granted by the state, but after the Gabo Reform of 1894 its educational function ceased, leaving only its ritual function today.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Cheongju, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산