Hongjuhyanggyo Local Confucian School

A hyanggyo is a local educational institution established by the state to hold memorial rites for Confucius and various sages and to educate and morally instruct the local populace. The exact date Hongjuhyanggyo was first built is not known, but it is said to have been founded at the end of the Goryeo period. Records remain showing that it was repaired in 1408, the eighth year of King Taejong of Joseon, and again in 1418, the eighteenth year of King Taejong. It subsequently burned down on several occasions, and after major repairs in 1924 it took on its present appearance. The buildings follow the jeonhakhumyo layout, with the Myeongnyundang, the space for education, at the front and the Daeseongjeon, the space for rites, at the rear. The Daeseongjeon measures three bays across the front and three bays deep, and inside are enshrined the spirit tablets of Confucius and other sages of China and Korea. Besides the Daeseongjeon, the complex retains the Myeongnyundang, the lecture hall where students gathered to study, along with the Dongmu and Seomu, the Jeonsacheong (a hall for preparing ritual offerings), and a storehouse for ritual vessels. Stone fixtures also survive — the mangnyodae for burning prayer texts, the cheongnyodae for lighting fires, and the gwansudae for washing hands — all used in performing Confucian rites. During the Joseon period the school received land, servants and books from the state to teach students, but today its educational function has disappeared and only its function as a site of ritual remains.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hongseong, Chungnam

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물