Godang-ri Village School, Yeongdong

The exact construction date of this building is not known, but based on records in the Heunghakdang Beontaek Myeongnok and the genealogy of the Chuncheon-busa-gong branch of the Danyang Yi clan, together with the testimony of local villagers, it is presumed to have been built in the late 1800s. It is a tile-roofed house with four bays across the front and two bays to the side, topped with a hip-and-gable (paljak) roof; the quality of its tilework is excellent, and the floorboards of its narrow porch (toenmaru) show an old-style technique reflecting Joseon-period woodworking methods, all well preserved. Its timber-framing also allows the wood-construction techniques of the time of building to be understood, and apart from a few later changes — the addition of a ceiling board and the removal of the rear porch — the building largely retains its original form. Although it cannot be said to hold great importance in the chronology of architectural history, its form shares features with that of a seodang (village school), giving it value as a record of seodang architecture. In plan, the building runs from east to west as a one-bay loft room used for storage, two heated ondol rooms, and a one-bay daecheong (wooden-floored hall). Across the front runs a narrow porch (toenmaru) about half a bay wide, and the ondol rooms have lattice doors (ttisal changho) fitted above a low sill board (meoreum). Structurally, square pillars stand on roughly dressed natural stones set on a shallow natural-stone platform, forming a napdori-style house (built with rectangular purlins). The roof frame is a three-purlin (samnyangga) structure; the ceiling of the wooden-floored hall is an exposed-rafter (yeondeung) ceiling, while the ondol rooms have a ceiling board. Beyond its value for the history of building technology, the school is also highly significant as an educational institution of the late Korean Empire period that, through the Japanese colonial period, taught Chinese classics (hanhak) and etiquette and awakened the Korean national spirit. Before the construction of the new road (the national highway between Daejeon and Yeongdong), this village, Godang 3-ri (also known as Nalgeuni), had a ferry crossing and was a transport hub; as a village settled by the Danyang Yi clan, the building served to educate not only this village but neighbouring ones as well. Although there is little record of it producing noted scholars, it provided modern education to ordinary people, and the records of the Heunghakdang Beontaek Myeongnok show that many people worked devotedly to preserve the building; it appears to survive today because the villagers have cherished this piece of heritage. Built more than 120 years ago, the Godang-ri Village School in Yeongdong was a genuine seodang teaching Chinese classics until Liberation; though not large, it holds educational, historical and architectural value for its construction method, building techniques and preserved original form, and is a rare surviving example of a seodang.

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Where it is

Region

Yeongdong, Chungbuk

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료