Boeun Local Confucian School

A hyanggyo, a local Confucian school, is an educational institution built by the state to hold memorial rites for eminent Confucian scholars and to provide Confucian education and moral instruction to local people. Boeun Hyanggyo was first built during the reign of King Sejong of Joseon (r. 1418–1450) and was rebuilt and repaired several times afterwards; the buildings that survive today date from the eighteenth century onward. Myeongnyundang, the lecture hall where students gathered to study, was relocated here as the lecture hall of Sanghyeon Seowon, a private Confucian academy closed in 1871, the eighth year of Emperor Gojong, under the Daewongun's order to abolish seowon academies. It measures five bays across the front and two bays in depth, with a simple gable roof whose sides form the shape of the character "人". Daeseongjeon, the shrine hall, enshrines the spirit tablets of Confucius and of Confucian scholars from China and Korea. During the Joseon period the school was maintained with land, books and slaves granted by the state, but after the Gabo Reform of 1894 the hyanggyo lost its educational function, and only its memorial-rite function remains today. It holds collections of writings such as the Sunamjip and books such as the Gongbujaseongjeokdo. Although not an old building, Boeun Hyanggyo is a representative historic structure of the Boeun region, dignified in scale and meticulous in composition.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Boeun, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산