Abstract
The Hyanggyo in Seongju(星州鄕校), designated as Treasure No.1575, has a distinctive plan. The main shrine hall(大成殿, religious area) is located on the left(east) and the main lecture hall(明倫堂, studying area) is on the right(west). This type of the plan is shown in only a few cases, and is known as a style of late Joseon Dynasty. But this type of plan was already formed in the 16th century in the Hyanggyo in Seongju. That is the earliest example in the same type of plan. This study aims to examine the period of the establishment and transitional process of the Hyanggyo in Seongju through analysis of various bibliographies. The results of the study are as follows : 1. The Hyanggyo in Seongju enshrining clay figure(塑像), was established already in the late Goryeo Dynasty. This result was discovered by analyzing the changing process of systems of Confucian shrines from clay figure to spirit plate(木主) in the late Goryeo Dynasty and in the early Joseon Dynasty. 2. It is confirmed that the main shrine hall and elevated pavilion existed in the 15th century. At that time it is presumed that the courtyard was surrounded by 4 buildings, which are mixed style of religious and studying area, called Myohakdonggoong(廟學同宮). 3. In the 1560's, the studying area was separated from the existing buildings by Hwang, Jun-Ryang(黃俊良). The current plan(left-shrine, right-lecture) was accomplished at that time. The reason of this change is supposed to apply the existing buildings and its location as it was, and to be influenced by the Hyanggyo in Punggi(豊基鄕校), which was relocated in 1543 by Joo, Se-Boong(周世鵬). 4. Most of buildings had been burned down by the fire during Japanese Invasion called Imjin War, since then many buildings were restored on the existing location in early 17th century except elevated pavilion, and remained so far.
