Hapcheon Local Confucian School

A hyanggyo is a local educational institution built by the state to hold memorial rites for eminent Confucian scholars and to provide Confucian education and moral instruction to the people of the region. Hapcheon Hyanggyo was established during the reign of King Sejong (r. 1418-1450). After a flood in 1881, the eighteenth year of Emperor Gojong, the Hapcheon county office was relocated to its present site, and the hyanggyo was moved together with it to the location it occupies today. Its buildings comprise Yeongguiru, the entrance gate; Myeongnyundang, the lecture hall where students studied; and Daeseongjeon, the shrine hall, together with the Dongmu and Seomu, subsidiary shrine halls to the east and west. The complex follows the "hall to the front, shrine to the rear" layout, with Myeongnyundang in front and Daeseongjeon behind it. Within the grounds stands a shrine to Lady Jeong, a woman from this region who risked her life to protect the hyanggyo during the Japanese invasions of 1592-1598. A number of wooden plaques hang in the main hall of Myeongnyundang, providing valuable material for research on the hyanggyo. During the Joseon period the school received farmland, slaves and books from the state to support the teaching of its students, but since the Gabo Reform of 1894 it has continued only to hold the memorial rites.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hapcheon, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산