A local Confucian school building that escaped the risk of submersion during the construction of the Andong Dam in the 1970s, preserving more than 500 years of history, is set to be designated a national treasure.
The Korea Heritage Service announced Wednesday that it had "given advance notice of the designation of the 'Daeseongjeon of Andong Yean Confucian School' in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, as a national treasure among state-designated cultural heritage."
A "hyanggyo," or Confucian school, was a space where the spirit tablets of sages were enshrined for ancestral rites and where Confucian studies were taught. The Joseon Dynasty placed the Sungkyunkwan in Seoul and Confucian schools in regional areas to manage its religious, educational, and social systems. Among these, the ritual space dedicated to performing rites for Confucius is the Daeseongjeon, while the lecture space for teaching students is the Myeongnyundang. The Andong Yean Confucian School fortunately escaped damage and has maintained its original location to this day, even though surrounding areas including the Yean-myeon township seat were submerged during the construction of the Andong Dam.
According to the Yean Confucian School records and other sources, the Yean Confucian School is said to have been established in 1411, and the Daeseongjeon was first built the same year before being renovated in 1569 and 1723. In particular, dendrochronological analysis of timber members found in the Daeseongjeon has drawn attention, confirming that they were materials used during the 1569 reconstruction, before the Japanese invasions of Korea (Imjin War). While the Myeongnyundang and Daeseongjeon of a Confucian school are usually arranged front and back, the Yean Confucian School has a distinctive layout with two axes—school in front and shrine behind, school on the left and shrine on the right—as it was arranged according to topographical conditions.
The Daeseongjeon measures three bays at the front and three bays at the side with an open space (front porch). Its architectural features differ from those found in other Confucian school buildings, including the installation of square outer columns and round inner columns in the front porch bay, along with archaic techniques in the window frame composition members. In addition, well-trimmed straight timber was used for the main members, and decoration was excluded from the bracket sets that connect the column heads to the beams to bear the roof load, while straight members were installed to firmly reinforce lateral and compressive forces. A gong (工)-shaped support strut combining several members was used atop the upper beam, an archaic technique of simple, undecorated form that can be seen at structures such as the Sangdeoksa and Jeongyodang of Dosan Seowon, adding to its architectural value.
The Korea Heritage Service explained that "the construction and renovation dates are clear, and the window frame composition and gong-shaped strut demonstrate regional characteristics and the patterns of change over time, giving it high historical and academic value, while the distinctive undecorated composition has high artistic value, making it worthy of treasure designation."
