Ungye Seowon (Yeongdeok)

About this place

Ungye Seowon is a late Joseon-period Confucian academy in Geomuyeok-ri, Byeonggok-myeon, Yeongdeok-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do. It was built in 1824 (24th year of King Sunjo) by the Confucian scholars of the Yeonghae Dohobu, and it enshrines Park Je-sang, Park Se-tong, and Park Eung-cheon of the Yeonghae Park clan of the Joseon period. The place where Ungye Seowon was first built was Bogok in Yeong-ri, Byeonggok-myeon, Yeongdeok-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, as it is today. In Bogok, about 2 km north of Geomuyeok-ri, are the graves of Park Se-tong, Park Hong-mu, and Park Gam. Thus, in 1818 (18th year of King Sunjo), the descendants of the Yeonghae Park clan built a shrine honoring the virtue of their ancestors, and this became the origin of Ungye Seowon. Later, at the initiative of the Confucian scholars of the province, in 1824 the existing building was used as the Jusa (kitchen/administration building), a house in the village was converted into a lecture hall, and the spirit tablets of the three men Park Je-sang, Park Se-tong, and Park Eung-cheon were enshrined. At the time of its first construction it was called not a seowon but 'Ungye Jeongsa.' It was abolished in 1868 (5th year of King Gojong) by Heungseon Daewongun's decree demolishing the Confucian academies, but in 1887 the descendants built a memorial hall, Chuwonjae, on this site. In 1987, Ungye Seowon, complete with a shrine and Bongsongjeong, was newly built on the present site. Before its abolition, Ungye Seowon consisted of a three-kan shrine whose shrine name was 'Sanghyeonsa' and whose enshrinement name was 'Ungyesa,' along with an eight-kan lecture hall, a three-kan outer three-gate, and a ten-kan Jusa. Today, only the shrine and Bongsongjeong remain. The shrine is a single-eaved, hip-and-gable-roofed tiled building of three kan at the front and one kan at the side, and Bongsongjeong is a square pavilion of two kan. Beside the shrine stands the 'Samdae Sijung Sindobi' (stele of three generations of chief ministers). Memorial rites are held at Ungye Seowon every year on the 7th day of the 10th lunar month.