Ungyeseowon Confucian Academy

This is a seowon, a Confucian academy, built to honour the scholarship and virtuous conduct of Jo Uk (1498–1557), a scholar of the Joseon period. Records differ as to exactly when the academy was founded, but it is generally said that his disciples established it in 1654. In 1714 it received a royal charter under the name Yongmunseowon — a saaek, the practice by which the Joseon king granted a name, inscribed on a plaque, to a shrine or academy. According to the later record Ungye Seowonji, "in 1838 the king visited Yongmunsa Temple, and because the name Yongmunseowon was the same as that of the temple, it was changed to Ungyeseowon." The academy was abolished under Emperor Gojong's order for the abolition of seowon — in 1871, when all but forty-seven academies and shrines nationwide were discontinued — but is said to have been rebuilt on several later occasions. In 1932 Jo Uk's descendants and local Confucian scholars restored the academy, and a memorial rite has since been held there every year on the twenty-first day of the eighth lunar month, Jo Uk's birthday. Today only the jaesil, a hall used for ritual preparation, and the shrine building remain; the jaesil also serves as the entrance to the shrine. The shrine measures three bays across the front and two bays to the side, with a hipped-and-gabled roof shaped, when seen from the side, like the character 八 (eight).

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료