I visited 3 seowons in Andong in April 2017, namely Hwacheon Seowon, Dosan Seowon (already reviewed) and Byeongsan Seowon. The latter is strangely included in the core zone of the Hahoe WHS even though it is strictly speaking outside of the village.

Of the three seowons I visited, my favourite one was Byeongsan Seowon which is a formal Confucian academy founded in 1575. It was built with educational facilities for scholars and also for the younger generation and it also has a shrine for memorial services. In 1863, King Cheolgong bestowed a hanging board inscribed by the king's own hand with 4 hanggul characters that gave this seowon its name and making it one of the royally chartered private academies. In 1871, Daewongun, father of King Gojong, closed all but 47 private acadamies across the country. Byeongsan seowon was one of the 47.

Bongnyemun Gate, the main entrance, leads to the Mandaeru Pavilion and Ipgyodang, a lecture hall with dormitories called dongjae to the right and seojae to the left. Behind the dongjae stands Gojiksa, a residence for the academy caretaker. Behind Ipgyodang is Jangpangak, a storage space for wooden printing blocks and relics. Stairs lead to Naesammun (photo), the gate to Jongdeoksa shrine.

Byeongsan seowon is considered a model of architecture from the heydey of Confucian academies, built to be in harmony with the beautiful natural surroundings. Together with all the other seowons, I think they have potential to become WHS and it would make sense to remove the Byeongsan seowon from the core zone of the Hahoe WHS. I visited by taxi from Hahoe passing through a winding unpaved road to have more time than the 10 minutes offered if you visit by bus from Andong. However, road works are ongoing at the moment which will most probably pave the road by the end of this year.