Damyang Local Confucian School

A hyanggyo is a state-established educational institution built to hold memorial rites for eminent Confucian scholars and to provide Confucian education and moral instruction to the local populace. The exact date on which Damyang Local Confucian School was founded is not known with certainty. There is a theory that it was built during the reign of King Chunghye of Goryeo (r. 1330–1331, 1339–1344), but tradition holds that construction in earnest began only when Daeseongjeon Hall was erected in 1398, the seventh year of King Taejo. It was rebuilt in 1674, the first year of King Sukjong, repaired in 1747, the twenty-third year of King Yeongjo, and repaired again during the reign of King Sunjo (r. 1800–1834), continuing down to the present. The buildings that survive today are Daeseongjeon Hall, Dongmu, Seomu, and Myeongnyundang Hall. The school stands on sloping ground: at the front is the area for study, centred on Myeongnyundang Hall where students once studied. At the rear is Daeseongjeon Hall, where memorial tablets of Confucius and other sages are enshrined and rites performed, following the typical hyanggyo layout of a study hall in front and a shrine behind. In the Joseon period the school received slaves, books and land from the state to teach its students, but after the Gabo Reform of 1894 its educational function ceased, and only the spring and autumn memorial rites continue to be held.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Damyang, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산