Historic Villages of Korea

Historic Villages of Korea, founded in the 14th-15th centuries, Hahoe and Yangdong are seen as the two most representative historic clan villages in the Republic of Korea. Their layout and location - sheltered by forested mountains and facing out onto a river and open agricultural fields – reflect the distinctive aristocratic Confucian culture of the early part of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). The villages were located to provide both physical and spiritual nourishment from their surrounding landscapes. They include residences of the head families, together with substantial timber framed houses of other clan members, also pavilions, study halls, Confucian academies for learning, and clusters of one story mud-walled, thatched-roofed houses, formerly for commoners. The landscapes of mountains, trees and water around the village, framed in views from pavilions and retreats, were celebrated for their beauty by 17th and 18th century poets.

Continent: Asia

Country: Republic of Korea

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (III)(IV)

Date of Inscription: 2010

Hahoe and Yangdong

The two villages of Hahoe and Yangdong are located in the south-eastern region of the Korean peninsula, the heartland of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), that ruled the Korean Peninsula for more than five hundred years. There is a distance of 90km between them.

Sheltered by forested mountains and facing out onto rivers and open agricultural fields, Hahoe and Yangdong in their landscape settings are seen as the two most representative historic, clan villages in Korea. They were founded in the 14th-15th century and subsequently expanded to their present size and composition in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Their layout and siting, reflect the distinctive aristocratic Confucian culture of the early part of the Joseon Dynasty.

A Living Hut

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The villages were located to provide both physical and spiritual nourishment from their surrounding landscapes. They include the residences of the head families, together with substantial timber framed houses of other clan members, also pavilions, study halls, Confucian academies for learning, and clusters of one storey mud-walled, thatched-roofed houses, formerly for commoners. The landscapes of mountains, trees and water around the villages, framed in views from pavilions and retreats, were celebrated for their beauty by 17th and 18th century poets.

Within the two villages, the outstanding ensembles of buildings, their siting, planning and building traditions, are exceptional reflections of the social and cultural systems of the Joseon Dynasty, of the particularly distinctive system of clan villages that is specific to this area, and of the way these evolved over five centuries.

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Browse All UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Republic of Korea. The original UNESCO inscription Here!!!

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