Jangsu Hyanggyo

About this place

Jangsu Hyanggyo is a local educational institution established by the state in the 7th year of King Taejong of Joseon (1407) to hold ancestral rites for people of outstanding virtue and to educate the local populace. It was moved to its present site in the 12th year of King Sukjong (1686). The Daeseongjeon is a space for holding rites for Confucius and various sages, measuring three bays across the front and three bays deep. The roof is a gable roof (matbaejibung) shaped like the character for 'person' (人) when viewed from the side; the building is not very large, and a hinged door is set in the center of the front. The right and left bays each have one door of the same form, beside which a window shaped like the character for 'well' (井) is installed. The decorative structure supporting the roof eaves is elaborately ornamented on the outside, and such ornamentation is a characteristic element of architecture from the mid-Joseon period onward. Jangsu Hyanggyo was well preserved even during the Imjin War, so the form of an early-Joseon hyanggyo can be clearly understood. The books kept here are a precious resource for the study of local history, and the Daeseongjeon in particular is one of the representative buildings of hyanggyo architecture of the Joseon period.