The Hyanggyo system was established in 1440 to enshrine ancestral sages‘ tablets, to execute secondary education, and to instruct local residents. Gijang Hyanggyo is said to have been established in 1617, moved to the present location in 1758. The Seongmyoiungsugi (reconstruction record), written in 1855, still remains. Most of the 7 buildings placed in a typical arrangement of a Hyanggyo layout still remain as established at that time.

Gijang Hyanggyo consists of 7 structures including Daeseongjeon, the main Confucian shrine, Myeongryundang, lecture hall, Dongjae and Seojae as dormitories for students and other auxiliary structures, like warehouses.

The buildings have the typical layout, Jeonhakhumyo, a Korean traditional design where educational facilities are located in the front and shrines to the rear. Myeongryundang (lecture hall) for pursuit of study being located in front and Daeseongjeon (main shrine hall) in the rear. The landscape has the proper hierarchy of a slope.

The Oesammun (outside three-doorway gate) leads to a two-storied pavilion with a half-gabled and hipped roof called a 'Punghwaru', has a three-kan soseuldaemun ("lofty-gate", having a high center door height to accommodate a sedan chair), and a signboard saying Sesimmun is hung.

Behind Sesimmun lies Grand Punghwaru (pavilion). Unlike an ordinary nugak that also acts as a gate, the two-storied Punghwaru having the a 3-kan front and 2-kan sides has the architectural style of the latter Joseon Dynasty characterized by the ikgongs style, double eaves, and paljakjibung. On both sides of Punghwaru are Dongjae and Seojae and in front of Punghwaru is Myeongryundang. Behind Punghwaru is Daeseongjeon.

Located to the left and right of Myeongryundang are Dongjae (East Dormitory) and Seojae (West Dormitory), dormitories for students. There is no Dongmu (East shrine) nor Seomu (West Shrine) next to Daeseongjeon, as is found at most hyanggyos.

Daeseongjeon has a memorial tablet for Confucius centered on the entrance and the left and right corridors have tablets for 4 Chinese scholars and 18 Korean scholars who were famed for their outstanding studies of Confucian classics. The front of Daeseongjeon, which has matbaejibung (a roof shaped like a slightly open book with stylobates, uninterrupted and continuous flat band, coping, or pavement upon which the bases of a row of columns are supported) and the 3kan front and the 3-kan side, has a unique elevation with cornerstones that rises up to the middle of a column. Along side the outside walls on both sides, division walls were built with rubble for the purpose of protection from rain and wind.

Gijang Hyanggyo was supported by the state with paddies, fields and slaves so that its teachers could concentrate on educating students. These days, Seokjeonjae (Ancestor Ritual), the largest ceremony to celebrate the late scholars, is held every February and August of the lunar calendar by local Confucians.

Gijang Hyanggyo is Busan Monument #39.