Dongbokyanggyo Local Confucian School

A hyanggyo is a local Confucian school established by the state to hold memorial rites for Confucius and other sages and to educate and morally cultivate the local populace. Dongbok Hyanggyo was first built on its present site in 1475, the twenty-seventh year of King Sejong of Joseon. It was later closed after a fire and relocated several times, enduring repeated hardship while its tradition continued, until it burned down entirely during the Korean War; only the Daeseongjeon, its main shrine hall, was rebuilt in 1959, bringing it to its present form. Daeseongjeon, which enshrines the spirit tablets of sages of China and Korea and holds memorial rites for them, stands at the centre of a site of about 150 pyeong (roughly 496 square metres) enclosed by a stone wall. It measures three bays across the front and three bays to the side, and its roof is a gabled roof that, seen from the side, forms the shape of the Chinese character for "person" (人). During the Joseon period, the state provided land, slaves and books to support the teaching of students, but today the school has lost its educational function and only its memorial rites continue.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hwasun, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료