Jangheung Local Confucian School

A hyanggyo is a local Confucian school founded by the state to hold memorial rites for eminent Confucian scholars and to provide Confucian education and moral instruction to local people. Jangheung Hyanggyo was built in 1398, the seventh year of King Taejo, and after being burned down during the Japanese invasions of 1592, was repaired in 1630, the eighth year of King Injo. It has since been repaired on several further occasions. The buildings that survive today include Daeseongjeon Hall (the shrine to Confucius), Myeongnyundang Hall (the lecture hall), and the Dongjae and Seojae dormitories, together with a hall for storing ritual vessels. Situated on a slope, Jangheung Hyanggyo separates its space for study from its space for ritual by means of an inner three-gate entrance. At the front stand the outer three-gate entrance, Myeongnyundang Hall, and the Dongjae and Seojae dormitories; at the rear stand Daeseongjeon Hall and Jeonsacheong Hall, forming the "hall of learning in front, shrine behind" layout typical of hyanggyo. Jeonsacheong Hall, built in 1981, is where the rites are managed; the Dongmu and Seomu shrines originally stood in front of Daeseongjeon Hall but were demolished in 1970. During the Joseon dynasty the school received land, enslaved labourers and books from the state to educate its students, but after the Gabo Reforms of 1894 its educational function ceased, and only the memorial rites, held twice a year in spring and autumn, continue.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jangheung, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산