The old traditional house of noble family

There is a well-preserved traditional house of noble family not far from my office. I love to look around the old stuffs.

The name of the house was Mo Won Jae 慕遠齊

It means literally “Missing Far away House”. Here faraway means the King. In middle age of korea, to be Royal to their king was understood as same as to serve their parents due to Confucius philosophy.

So owner of this house would like to express his royalty to the King.
The owner of this house had lived at 1415-1480, he was a vice prime minister of Choson dynasty.

In Choson Dynasty, every house needed to be humble. They couldn't colour their houses. Coloring the house was strictly banned except the Palace and the Shrine. The size of house was also strictly prohibited.
Due to the Confucian philosophy, the extravagancy was perceived as immoral behavior

Full appearance from behind

The front gate was humble

main building

close shot

Do you feel the history of this house.

under the roof of the main building

the white patterns are the kind of ornament instead of the coloring

Back door

On the door, you can find the very humble encarved ornament at the just below of the roof.

I don’t know where this patterns came from, but it looked similar to the lotus in my guess.

They made a back door, because the graveyard of the family was located in just behind of the house.

They ‘d like to serve their ancestors near their house.

Thank you for reading.