Cheongam Pavilion, Bonghwa

Basic information

Designation

Treasure No.2182

Category

Architecture

Era

조선시대

Designated year

2022

Location

봉화군, 경상북도— 경상북도 봉화군 충재길 44 (봉화읍, 충재권벌선생 관계유적)

Coordinates

36.904910, 128.742050Kakao address conversion

This English description was machine-translated and may contain inaccuracies. Refer to the original Korean text for details.

Bongwha Cheongam-jeong (Azure Rock Pavilion) is located at No. 44, Chungjai-gil, Bongwha-eup, Bongwha-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and stands within the ancestral compound of the Andong Kwon clan's Chungjai House. Along with the nearby Seokcheon Pavilion (Seokcheon-jeong) located in the Seokcheon Valley, it is currently designated as a scenic site. According to historical records including the Chungjai Collection (Chungjaejip) and the Seokcheon Geography (Seokcheon-ji), Bongwha Cheongam-jeong was constructed by Chungjai Kwon Byeol (1478-1548) in 1526 as a pavilion to the west of his residence. In its original form, the building comprised a 6-bay open-floor structure. A 2-bay heated room section was added in the late sixteenth century. In 1721, records preserved in Kwon Doo-gyeong's "Handwritten Wooden Slip Records" (Seongsaeng Su-seo Mok-pyeon-sik) indicate that three pillars on the eastern facade were replaced, the northern eave and secondary rafters were repaired, all balustrade and roof tiles were replaced, and decorative coloring was applied. In the sixteenth century, scholars and officials (sadaebu) who withdrew from official service established personal pavilions near their residences or at scenic locations for scholarly pursuits and leisure, termed "home residence" (ga-geo). Bongwha Cheongam-jeong represents a quintessential example pioneering such residential culture among scholars, and served historically as a gathering place where the Andong Kwon clan and local gentry would discuss major and minor community matters. Cheongam-jeong demonstrates distinctive architectural characteristics: responding to the confined space of a turtle-shaped rock positioned in the center of a pond and uneven flooring, a high palace-style foundation platform was constructed and the floor was leveled to accommodate both open platform and heated room sections. Among the 'ㄷ'-shaped pavilion plans distributed throughout the Gyeongsang region, Cheongam-jeong represents one of the earliest examples. Furthermore, the old-style leaded windows with vertical posts in the window frames remain intact, and the distinctive bracket-arm construction where beam-ends terminate at the lower portion of the central roof beam while the intermediate roof beam is supported by protruding bracket-arms represents construction methods known from the Yagyong Pavilion in Yecheon, recognized as pre-Imjin War construction, substantiating that Cheongam-jeong predates the seventeenth century.

Location