Heungam Seowon | Attraction Guide | K-Travel Mate

Sangju Heungam Seowon was established to commemorate the scholarship and virtues of Song Jun-gil (1606–1672). Song Jun-gil is one of the eighteen scholars honored in the Munmyo Shrine and a scholar who continued the Giho academic lineage of Yi I, Kim Jang-saeng, and Kim Jip. In the late Joseon period, the Westerners and Noron factions in the Sangju area of Gyeongsangbuk-do, who succeeded the Giho academic tradition, gathered around Heungam Seowon. In 1702, Heungam Seowon was built in Sangju to perform rites for Song Jun-gil, and in 1705 it was granted the name 'Heungam' by royal decree. It became the first royal-decreed Westerners and Noron faction seowon established in Yeongnam and received a calligraphic royal plaque. In response, disciples such as Seong Ihong and Chae Jeonghyu erected a stele with inscriptions. Even during Heungseon Daewongun's order to abolish seowon, Sangju Heungam Seowon was not closed. Later, it was used as a modern school, leading to the founding of Sangju High School and Namsan Middle School, but it has since been relocated. In 2005, it was restored as part of a Confucian cultural area development project. The buildings at Heungam Seowon include Heungamsa, Jinsudang, Jin-ui-jae, Ui-in-jae, Eopilbi-gak, and Naesammun. Heungamsa is a shrine hall where memorial ceremonies are held and where Song Jun-gil's spirit tablet is enshrined. Jin-ui-jae on the east and Ui-in-jae on the west were dormitories for students.