Yongjang Seowon

About this place

Seowon were private local educational institutions of the Joseon period established to perform rites for great Confucian scholars and to educate the local population. Yongjang Seowon is a seowon dedicated to the memory of the Goryeo loyalist Yang Neung-yang and it enshrines Yang Ju-un, who was enfeoffed as the lord of Yongseong for his merits in suppressing the Sambyeolcho Rebellion during the reign of King Wonjong of Goryeo; Kim Gu-yong, who served as a Daesaseong (director of the National Confucian Academy) in the late Goryeo period; and Yang Dae-bak, a meritorious subject from the Imjin War period. The seowon greatly contributed to enshrining worthy predecessors and educating the local people, nurturing many talented individuals, but was demolished in 1868 (the 5th year of King Gojong) by Heungseon Daewongun's edict to abolish seowon. It was later rebuilt by local Confucians but the exact date is unknown. Only the shrine building now remains.