Chidong Seowon

About this place

Chidong Seowon is a Confucian academy located near the Okgu Reservoir in the seat of Okgu-eup, Gunsan City. This academy grew out of Chidongmyo, a shrine built in 1926, and was rebuilt as an academy when it was moved to its present location in 1983. Enshrined here are Jeon Hoeng (250–202 BC)—a royal member of the state of Qi in China who, when his country fell, is said to have crossed the West Sea with over 500 vassals to reach present-day Eocheongdo Island in Gunsan, where he ultimately took his own life to preserve his loyalty and integrity—and Jeon Ya-eun, Jeon Noe-eun, and Jeon Gyeong-eun, the founding ancestors of the Damyang Jeon clan who were renowned for their literary talent and integrity in the late Goryeo period. Thus, memorial rites are held for them every spring and autumn. The spatial composition consists of the lecture space of the lecture hall, Dongjae, and Seojae, and the ritual space of Samyangsa and Chidongmyo. The lecture hall is a building of 3 bays at the front and 2 bays at the side, with a paljak roof set upon a low cement foundation. Samyangsa is a building of 3 bays at the front and 1 bay at the side, with a matbae (gabled) roof set upon a cement foundation.