Beopjusa Temple Seonhuigung Palace Wondang Hall, Boeun

Located to the right of the front of Beopjusa Temple's Daeungbojeon Hall (Treasure No. 915), the exact date of construction of this building is unknown, but it is said to have been built around 1765 as the "Seonhuigung Wondang", a shrine raised to enshrine the spirit tablet of Lady Yeongbin of the Yi clan, a consort of King Yeongjo of Joseon, and to hold memorial rites for her. It was later used as the "Josagak" (Hall of Patriarchs), housing portraits of successive eminent monks associated with Beopjusa Temple, and today it stands empty. At Beopjusa Temple it is known as the "Old Josagak". When it served as the Josagak, portraits of the temple's founding patriarch, Monk Uisin, and of Monk Taego, the first patriarch to transmit the Dharma teachings, hung to the left and right of the centre. To either side were enshrined the portraits of two further monks whose names are no longer known, together with those of Sehong, Hamwol, Myeongchal, Jeongjun, Jangsin, Dohong, Hongmin, Jiyeong, Yeongin, Jinha, Taneung, Seoksang, Geumo, Myeongil, Boheun, Chungeun and Beobyeong — twenty-one monks in all. It is a small building, three bays across the front and three bays deep, set apart from the other buildings on the temple grounds by a traditional Korean wall and a raised three-bay gate. This form is a Confucian style of architecture frequently used for shrines, hyanggyo (local Confucian schools) and seowon (Confucian academies). The stylobate and square cornerstones are of standardised dimensions and finished with fine dressed stonework (jeongdadeum). The building measures 42.99 square metres. Inside, towards the front, stands a pair of square columns. The structure combines ikgong-style (wing-shaped bracket) and jusimpo-style (bracket sets placed only on the columns) elements in what is termed a jusimpo structure, and its double eaves and gabled roof give it the outward form of a Confucian shrine. It has windows of the yeongssangchang type (paired lattice windows divided by a central mullion), and the front wall is ornamented with a variety of auspicious motifs and star patterns worked in roof-tile fragments and rounded stones — a well-preserved example of the folk-painting-style wall decoration of the late Joseon period. Although its exact date of construction is unknown, this Confucian-style building within the temple grounds once enshrined the spirit tablet of King Yeongjo's consort Lady Yeongbin, and was later used as a Josagak housing portraits of successive eminent monks associated with Beopjusa Temple. Its old appearance is relatively well preserved, giving it high conservation value.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Boeun, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산