Nakam Seowon

About this place

Nakam Seowon, located in Jungdong-myeon, Sangju, is an academy founded in 1745 (21st year of King Yeongjo) by the public agreement of local Confucian scholars to honor the learning and virtue of Kim Dam-su, Kim Jeong-ryong, and Kim Jeong-gyeon. It enshrined the tablets of Confucian scholars, held memorial rites, and served a role in local education, until it was demolished in 1868 (5th year of King Gojong) under the Regent Heungseon Daewongun's edict abolishing private academies; afterward, an altar was set up on the site of the former shrine. The buildings in the compound include a three-bay lecture hall and a one-bay Jangpangak (repository for woodblocks), while only the sites of the eastern and western dormitories and the ritual-preparation hall remain. The lecture hall consists of a central wooden-floored hall flanked by side rooms and was used for various events of the academy, gatherings of Confucian scholars, and scholarly discussion. The Jangpangak is where the woodblocks of literary collections were kept; at present no woodblocks remain, only a few printed volumes of the collections, and a memorial rite is held once each year.