Icheon City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 25th that it held a groundbreaking ceremony on the 24th for the 'Seolbongseowon Education Center', which will be built at San 64-8, Gwango-dong.
On the 24th, Lee Kyunghee, Mayor of Icheon City, delivered a greeting at the groundbreaking ceremony for Seolbongseowon Education Center. The education center is scheduled to be completed by December next year. Provided by Icheon City
The education center, which will be constructed on a 3,170-square-meter site behind Seolbongseowon, will consist of one basement level and two above-ground floors, with a total floor area of 997 square meters. It is scheduled for completion by December next year.
The education center will house facilities such as traditional culture lecture rooms, education and transmission spaces, and a multipurpose community room. The space will be operated as an open cultural venue where citizens and all students can learn and enjoy together.
Seolbongseowon was the first seowon (Confucian academy) established in the Giho region, founded in 1564 by Jeong Hyeon, then governor of Icheon. It was relocated to a government office in 1593, but was dismantled in 1871 due to the Daewongun's seowon abolition policy. In 2007, Icheon City became the first basic local government to provide funding and restore the seowon to its current form.
The city plans to utilize the education center as a space to systematically preserve the region's historical and cultural resources, and to allow citizens to directly experience and learn about them.
About 200 people, including heads of local institutions and social organizations, as well as students of Seolbongseowon, attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
Lee Kyunghee, Mayor of Icheon City, stated, "The education center will become a core facility where citizens can experience the history and culture of Icheon City up close," adding, "We will carry out the project safely and systematically to create a space that contributes to the development of local culture."
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