Bongdeok Seowon

About this place

A seowon is a private educational institution established from the mid-Joseon period onward by local Confucian scholars to study scholarship and hold ancestral rites. Bongdeok Seowon enshrines the spirit tablet of Bak Du-geuk (pen name Goeun), a civil official of the Joseon period. Inside the lecture hall hang plaques bearing the inscriptions 'Bongdeokjae Sangnyangmun' (ridgepole-raising text of Bongdeokjae), 'Bongdeokjaegi' (record of Bongdeokjae), and 'Bongdeok Seowon'; according to the ridgepole-raising text, the building was erected in 1911. In its layout, the outer three-bay gate, the lecture hall, the inner three-bay gate, and the shrine are arranged in a straight line; upon entering the main gate one comes to the lecture hall, behind which stands the shrine Yeongmosa, forming the 'lecture hall in front, shrine behind' (jeonhak-humyo) arrangement. It is operated and maintained by the Miryang Bak clan.