Gwacheon Hyanggyo

This description was machine-translated from the Korea Tourism Organization's Korean original.

Gwacheon Hyanggyo was founded in Gwacheon-hyeon in 1398. Later, following the opinion of Confucian scholars who believed the feng shui theory that the site was poor and thus no talented people would emerge, it was moved to its present location in 1690. In front is placed Myeongnyundang, the educational space, and at the rear is Daeseongjeon, the ritual space. The front is for scholarly study, and the rear is for ancestral rites. Daeseongjeon measures three bays across the front and two bays on the side, and its roof is a gabled roof that forms the shape of the Chinese character for person (人) when viewed from the side. Myeongnyundang measures five bays across the front and two bays on the side; the central three bays have a wooden floor and are used as a lecture hall, the eastern side has an ondol-heated room, and the western side has a wooden-floored room. This appears to follow the precedent of providing rooms for instructors (gyosu). The outer three-gate (oesammun) is a soeureumdae (raised-center) gate measuring five bays across the front and two bays on the side, newly built in 1974, and a hongsalmun stands in front of the outer three-gate.