Deogam Seowon (Seongju)

About this place

This academy traces its origins to 1672 (13th year of King Hyeonjong), when the Confucian community built Deogamsa shrine to honor three worthies of the Gyeongsan Yi clan: Yi Cheon-bae (pen name Samikjae), Yi Cheon-bong (pen name Baekcheon), and Yi Ju (pen name Hakgajae). It was later demolished under Regent Heungseon Daewongun's edict abolishing private academies, then rebuilt as Deogam Seodang in 1876 (13th year of King Gojong). The present name of the academy dates from 1999, when, with support from the central government and Gyeongsangbuk-do the previous year, the shrine, inner three-gate, and eastern and western dormitories were built and it was renamed. Yi Cheon-bae and Yi Cheon-bong, enshrined at the academy, were brothers who both studied under Han-gang Jeong Gu; when the Jeongmyo Horan (Later Jin invasion of 1627) broke out, Yi Cheon-bong raised a righteous army in Seongju and rendered meritorious service. Yi Ju studied under Yeoheon Jang Hyeon-gwang, built the Baegindang, and devoted himself to educating the younger generation while also organizing village codes (donggyu) and community compacts (hyangyak). In the academy's layout, the rectangular enclosure surrounded by an earth-and-stone wall has, at its front, the Geonmyeongmun—a raised three-gate serving as the entrance to the academy—and to the north stands the lecture hall, before which the eastern and western dormitories face each other. Behind the lecture hall, within a separate enclosure, stand the inner three-gate and the shrine. The lecture hall is of central-hall-with-side-rooms type, measuring five bays across the front and three bays deep, centered on a two-bay central wooden-floored hall, with a two-connected-bay ondol room on the left and a one-bay ondol room on the right. The eastern and western dormitories are of central-hall-with-side-rooms type, measuring three bays across the front and one bay deep, and the shrine measures three bays across the front and one and a half bays deep. (Source: Seongju-gun Culture and Tourism)