Seongju Hyanggyo (Confucian School)

About this place

When viewed from the front, Seongju Hyanggyo has the Myeongnyundang (lecture hall) on the left and the Daeseongjeon (main shrine hall) on the right, following the layout in which the shrine stands to the left and the school to the rear. The Daeseongjeon and Myeongnyundang are said to have been founded in the 7th year of King Taejo of Joseon (1398), when the Munmyo Shrine in Seoul and the provincial hyanggyo were established, though the exact date is unknown. The Daeseongjeon of Seongju Hyanggyo, along with the Munmyo Shrine in Seoul and the Daeseongjeon halls of Iksan Hyanggyo and Daegu Hyanggyo, is one of the rare hyanggyo buildings in Korea built in the multi-bracket (dapo) style, and it preserves well the construction techniques of the mid-Joseon period. It is especially notable that, despite being a multi-bracket structure, no ceiling was installed, and that its interior was treated very simply to suit Confucian architecture even while employing the dapo style. The Myeongnyundang has a typical central-hall-with-flanking-rooms floor plan, with a front veranda bay and a wooden floor laid in the center. The upper part of the ondol (heated-floor) room appears to have had a loft installed for use as storage space, and archaic features remain in the composition of its windows and doors. Traces of a doorframe remain on the side of the left ondol room, and the roof is of the gabled type.