Gicheon Confucian Academy Site

Gicheon Confucian Academy Site is where a seowon, a Joseon-period Confucian academy, once stood to commemorate the scholarship and virtuous conduct of Kim An-guk (1478–1543). The academy was founded in 1580, and in 1625 it received the name 'Gicheon' through a saaek, a name and plaque bestowed by the king on a shrine or academy. The academy burned down during the Imjin War — the Japanese invasions of Korea, fought in two campaigns between 1592 and 1598 — but was later rebuilt, enshrining eight scholars in total alongside Kim An-guk: Yi Eon-jeok, Hong In-u, Jeong Yeop, Yi Won-ik, Hong Myeong-gu, Yi Sik and Hong Myeong-ha. It was then abolished under Emperor Gojong's 1871 order for the abolition of seowon, which left only forty-seven academies and shrines (seowon and sau) standing nationwide and demolished all the rest. In 1937 local Confucian scholars repaired the shrine and renamed it Mohyeonsa ('Shrine for Admiring the Worthies'), and in 1979 the shrine was rebuilt and once again named Gicheon Academy. The site today comprises the shrine (Gicheon Academy) together with its east and west study halls (dongjae and seojae), with Mohyeonsa standing beside the academy. The shrine measures three kan (bays) across the front and two kan deep, with a matbae roof — a gable roof shaped, in side profile, like the character '人' (person). The east and west study halls each measure three kan across the front and one kan deep, also with matbae roofs. Mohyeonsa measures three kan across the front and two kan deep, with a paljak roof — a hipped-and-gable roof shaped, in side profile, like the character '八' (eight).

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yeoju, Gyeonggi

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료