Hongsan Hyanggyo | Attraction Guide | K-Travel Mate

Hyanggyo were national provincial educational institutions established during the Goryeo and Joseon periods to perform memorial rites for eminent Confucian scholars and to educate local residents. In the Joseon period, they received land and slaves from the state, and instructors taught students, but their educational function was abolished with the full onset of modern education after the 1894 Gabo Reform. Hongsan Hyanggyo is believed to have been established in the early Joseon era. According to 'Buyeo Hyanggyoji,' in 1591, governor Yi Seongjung reconstructed it; it was destroyed in 1597 during the Imjin War and restored in 1610 by Yi Deokgi. In 1643, Confucian scholar Hong Cheoyun of the Buyeo region moved the hyanggyo to its current location on flat land due to the previous site being too high and inconvenient. The building layout follows the Jeonhak-Hu-myo structure, with Myeongnyundang, the learning space, measuring five kan wide and two kan deep, featuring a gable roof resembling the shape of the Chinese character for person (人) when viewed from the side. The supporting brackets under the eaves are decorated in a style called Ikgong, shaped like bird wings. Daeseongjeon measures three kan wide and two kan deep with a gable roof. Also present are a Hongsalmun gate and inner and outer Sammun gates. Nearby are Hongsan Dongheon and Hongsan Gaksa, which can be visited together.