Yeonggwang Local Confucian School

A hyanggyo is a local Confucian school built by the state to hold memorial rites for eminent Confucian scholars and to provide Confucian education and moral instruction to local people. Yeonggwang Local Confucian School was built during the reign of King Gongmin of Goryeo (r. 1351–1374) and was repaired in 1582, the 15th year of King Seonjo. It was burned down during the Japanese invasions of 1592 and later restored, and the buildings standing today are thought to date from the late Joseon period. The surviving buildings include Daeseongjeon Hall (the main shrine hall enshrining Confucius), Dongmu and Seomu (the east and west subsidiary shrine halls), Myeongnyundang (the lecture hall), and Dongjae and Seojae (the east and west dormitories). A ritual precinct centred on Daeseongjeon stands at the front, and a study precinct centred on Myeongnyundang stands behind it, following jeonmyohuhak, the customary hyanggyo layout of "shrine in front, school behind". Tradition holds that when the Munmyo Shrine in Seoul, which had burned down, was restored in 1400, the second year of King Jeongjong, the layout of this school was consulted as a model. During the Joseon period the school received land, servants and books from the state and used them to teach students, but after the Gabo Reforms of 1894 its educational function ceased, and only the spring and autumn memorial rites continue today.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yeonggwang, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산