Sinnyeong Hyanggyo

About this place

A hyanggyo is a state-established educational institution that held ancestral rites for Confucius and various sages and provided for the education and edification of the local people. The exact date of Sinnyeong Hyanggyo's construction is unknown, but it was destroyed by fire in 1592 (the 25th year of King Seonjo of Joseon). In 1615 (the 7th year of Gwanghaegun) it was rebuilt at a point 500 m away from its original site, and in 1686 (the 12th year of King Sukjong) it was moved to its present location. Daeseongjeon is the hall where the memorial tablets of Confucius as well as Chinese and Korean Confucian scholars are enshrined and rites are held. It measures three kan across the front, and, lacking eastern and western verandas (dongmu and seomu), the Korean sages too were all enshrined in Daeseongjeon. During the Joseon period, the state provided land, servants, books, and the like to teach students, but today its educational function has disappeared and only its ritual function remains.