Naju Micheonseowon Confucian Academy

Naju Micheonseowon is a seowon (Confucian academy) built to honour the scholarship and virtuous conduct of Heo Mok (1595–1682), a civil official of the late Joseon period. Heo Mok held a succession of offices, rising to Vice Minister of Personnel and State Councillor of the Right, and was accomplished in painting, calligraphy and literary composition alike, excelling especially at seal-script calligraphy. In 1679, the fifth year of King Sukjong, he returned to his hometown of Yeoncheon in Gyeonggi-do and devoted himself to educating the next generation. This academy, built in 1690, the sixteenth year of King Sukjong, was recognised by the state in 1693, the nineteenth year of King Sukjong, as a royally chartered academy (saek seowon) and given the name "Micheon." In 1799, the twenty-third year of King Jeongjo, it additionally enshrined Chae Je-gong (1720–1799), a military official of the late Joseon period; but under the order to abolish seowon issued by the regent Heungseon Daewongun, it was closed in 1868, the fifth year of Emperor Gojong, and was rebuilt on its present site in 1892, the twenty-ninth year of Emperor Gojong. The buildings on the grounds include, besides the main shrine and lecture hall, the Jangpangak, where printing woodblocks are kept, and a gosa, the residence of the academy's caretaker. The shrine, Yeongjeonggak, houses the spirit tablets of Heo Mok and Chae Je-gong. The lecture hall served both as a place of instruction and as a meeting place for Confucian scholars; it has a wooden-floored hall at its centre flanked by heated ondol rooms on either side. The academy no longer functions as a school, but ancestral rites are still held there every March and September.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Naju, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물