Seosanseowon Confucian Academy

Seosanseowon is a Confucian academy built to honour the scholarship and virtue of Yi Saek, styled Mok-eun. Yi Saek was a scholar-official of the late Goryeo period who studied Neo-Confucianism in Yuan China and held office there. After returning home he held a succession of posts, including Grand Academician of the Yemungwan (Office of Royal Decrees), and contributed to the spread of Neo-Confucianism and the development of Confucian scholarship. The academy was built in 1771, the 47th year of King Yeongjo of Joseon. Yi Hong-jo, Yi Saek's tenth-generation descendant, was later enshrined alongside him and honoured with rites, and the academy played a part in local education until it was closed under the order to abolish seowon issued by Heungseon Daewongun; it was rebuilt in 1962. The buildings on the grounds include the main shrine and lecture hall, together with the east and west dormitories, the jeonsacheong, a hall for preparing ritual food, and the jusa, the caretaker's quarters. The shrine, Sungdeoksa, enshrines the spirit tablets of Yi Saek and Yi Hong-jo and measures three bays across the front and one bay deep. The lecture hall, Myeonggyodang, was used as a meeting and teaching place for Confucian scholars; it measures five bays across the front and two bays deep, and its roof is a hipped-and-gabled paljak roof, shaped like the character for "eight" when viewed from the side. A wooden floor is set at the centre, with heated ondol rooms arranged on either side. The east dormitory, Yugyeongjae, was used as lodging for participants at the ancestral rites, while the west dormitory, Gangsujae, was where students lived and studied. The academy's teaching function has since ceased, and rites are now held every year in March and September.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Andong, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물