Namyangpunghwadang Hall

In 1854, the fifth year of King Cheoljong, like-minded scholars and retired yangban officials of Namyang-bu built this hall to promote propriety, morality and good customs. When the girohoe — an association formed to honour and care for the elderly — was first organised, Hong Gil-mo, the magistrate of Namyang-bu, hoping that it would become a model for society, named the hall Punghwadang, meaning "hall of transformation through beauty," after the phrase "beautiful customs, beautiful transformation" (mipung-mihwa). When the girohoe was organised in 1854, no new building was constructed; instead, a government workshop in Namyang-bu was borrowed for its use. A building that had been built in 1867, the fourth year of Emperor Gojong, as the naea — the private residential quarters of the magistrate's office of Namyang-gun — was donated to the association in 1929 and used as a giroso, becoming the present-day Punghwadang. Today a signboard reading "Punghwadang" hangs at the front of the main gate, while inside hangs another signboard reading "Waryongdang," revealing the building's layered history. Punghwadang shares the same floor plan as a typical main house of a traditional Gyeonggi-region dwelling, and its basic frame and roof structure, including its flat-beam members, are well preserved. It is a particularly rare example of a giroso established in the provinces in the manner of the Giroso set up by the central government during the Joseon period, and it is an important piece of heritage that shows how such local institutions were run at the time.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hwaseong, Gyeonggi

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료