Seongju Hyanggyo Confucian School

At the foot of a hill on the eastern side of Gyochon village in Seongju-eup, a shrine with red columns and a plain lecture hall stand side by side. This is Seongju Hyanggyo, a state-run local school of the Joseon dynasty. Its shrine to Confucius, Daeseongjeon, is a rare example topped with elaborate multi-cluster brackets, and because it was firmly dated to its rebuilding in 1605, it was designated a national Treasure together with the lecture hall, Myeongnyundang.

Hyanggyo: Joseon's public schools

A hyanggyo was a state Confucian institution that held rites for Confucius and other sages and taught the young men of the county. In the Joseon period they received land, servants and books from the state to support their students; today their teaching role has gone and only the ritual function remains.

Seongju Hyanggyo is traditionally said to have been founded in 1398, the seventh year of King Taejo, when hyanggyo were set up across the country, but the exact date is unknown. The Manhwaru pavilion, built around 1510, and the Yangsajae study hall burned during the Japanese invasions of the 1590s. Daeseongjeon was rebuilt after the war in 1605, the 38th year of King Seonjo, and Myeongnyundang followed, appearing in a county record of 1677. The dormitories that once housed the students collapsed around 1950 and were never rebuilt, and in 1961 Daeseongjeon and Myeongnyundang were repaired.

Shrine and lecture hall side by side

Most hyanggyo place the lecture hall in front and the shrine behind it. At Seongju, seen from the front, Myeongnyundang stands on the left and Daeseongjeon on the right, side by side, with the shrine area raised higher to express its greater rank.

• Daeseongjeon: a three-by-three-bay building with a hipped-and-gabled roof. It uses the dapo system, with bracket clusters set between the columns as well as on top of them. Among hyanggyo shrines, this style is found only at a handful of places such as the Seoul Munmyo and the Iksan and Daegu hyanggyo. Despite the elaborate brackets, the interior has no ceiling and is kept simple, in keeping with Confucian taste. Inside are spirit tablets of Confucius, his leading disciples and the great Song-dynasty Confucian scholars.
• Myeongnyundang: a five-bay lecture hall with a wooden central hall flanked by heated rooms, the classic layout. It has an open front bay and storage lofts above the heated rooms. The window and door frames preserve older joinery techniques, and traces of a former door frame can be seen on the side of the left-hand room.

Tripto tips

• Time needed: around 30 minutes to walk around the compound and study the two buildings.
• Visiting: many hyanggyo keep their gates closed except on ritual days. Both buildings can be seen well over the wall, but if you would like to go inside the courtyard, contact Seongju County Office in advance. It is a place of ritual, so keep your voice down.
• Getting there: the address is 36-12 Yesan 2-gil, Seongju-eup. It is about 1 km from Seongju Bus Terminal, a 15-minute walk. Buses run to Seongju from Daegu's Seobu Bus Terminal.
• Combine with: about 1.6 km away, the Seongbak Forest, a Natural Monument, has rows of centuries-old willows, and in August purple lilyturf blooms beneath them. Together with the hyanggyo it makes a pleasant half-day. Seongju is famous for its yellow chamoe melons, and from spring into summer you can buy them freshly picked from roadside stalls.