Sangju Okdong Seowon

About this place

Okdong Seowon is a Confucian academy founded in 1518 to commemorate the learning and virtuous conduct of Hwang Hui; it was originally the Baekhwa Seodang (study hall). Later, in 1580, a portrait shrine was newly built at Baegok-dong to enshrine the spirit tablet of Hwang Hui, and memorial rites were held in spring and autumn; in 1714 it was elevated to a seowon and moved to its present location. At that time Jeon Sik (1563-1642) was additionally enshrined, and in 1786 Hwang Hyo-heon (1491-1532) and Hwang Nyu (1578-1626) were further enshrined. In 1715 the Gyeongdeoksa and the lecture hall were built, and in 1789 it received from the court the royally bestowed name Okdong Seowon, which it bears to this day. It is one of 47 seowon across the country that survived without being demolished even during the 1868 edict of the Heungseon Daewongun ordering the abolition of seowon; in particular, it is the only seowon among those honoring Hwang Hui that has been preserved intact in its original form without damage. At present, Okdong Seowon holds a wealth of documentary heritage, including three portraits of Hwang Hui and a total of 241 volumes of woodblock-printed books in five kinds, such as the Bangchon Seonsaeng Munjip, the Bangan-jip, the Hwangssi Sebo, the Janggye-igo, and the Mano-jip, as well as some 300 various old documents and 11 hanging boards. Designated Gyeongsangbuk-do Monument No. 52 on December 19, 1984, it was elevated and re-designated as Historic Site No. 532 of the Republic of Korea on November 10, 2015, and it runs a variety of programs for children and adults under the "Regional Cultural Heritage Utilization Project: Utilization of Hyanggyo and Seowon Cultural Heritage" carried out by the Cultural Heritage Administration.