Gangneunghyanggyo Local Confucian School

A hyanggyo 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. This school was first established in 1313, the fifth year of King Chungseon of Goryeo, destroyed by fire in 1411, the eleventh year of King Taejong of Joseon, and rebuilt in 1413, the thirteenth year of King Taejong. It underwent repairs on several later occasions, and during the reign of King Injo (r. 1623–1649) it was greatly enlarged, taking on its present grand scale. Situated on a slope below Hwabusan Mountain, it follows the traditional 'front-study, rear-shrine' (jeonhakhumyo) layout, with the shrine — the Daeseongjeon Hall, a Treasure — placed on the upper site for memorial rites, and the lecture hall, the Myeongnyundang, on the lower site for study. In the shrine precinct, the Dongmu and Seomu shrine buildings flank the Daeseongjeon and are linked to it by a covered corridor. The Daeseongjeon enshrines the memorial tablets of Confucius together with those of Yan Hui, Zisi, Zengzi and Mencius, while the Dongmu and Seomu enshrine the tablets of Confucian scholars from China and Korea. The Myeongnyundang, the lecture hall where students gathered to study, is a two-storey pavilion-style building whose lower floor has only columns and no walls, so that it doubles as a passageway. Also surviving are the Dongjae and Seojae dormitories where students lived, along with other auxiliary buildings. During the Joseon period the school was supported by land, books and servants granted by the state. Today it has lost its educational function and retains only that of holding memorial rites, although Myeongnyun High School was established by the hyanggyo and is still run by it. Most of the books once held here were lost to fire during the Korean War, and only around seventy volumes survive today, including the Gongbuja Seongjeokdo, an illustrated account of the life of Confucius. Whereas hyanggyo elsewhere have either moved the memorial tablets of Chinese and Korean scholars from the Dongmu and Seomu into the Daeseongjeon or removed them altogether, Gangneunghyanggyo still enshrines them exactly as they were arranged in the Joseon period. It is also unusually grand in scale for a local hyanggyo, and since its buildings escaped fire during the Korean War, it retains its old scale and appearance intact.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gangneung, Gangwon

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산