Gustav Adolf High School
| Gustav Adolf Gymnasium Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium |
|
|---|---|
|
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| type of school | high school |
| founding | 1631 |
| address |
Suur-Kloostri 16 |
| place | Tallinn |
| district | Harju |
| Country | Estonia |
| Coordinates | 59 ° 26 '23 " N , 24 ° 44' 35" E |
| carrier | Republic of Estonia |
| student | 1,100 |
| Teachers | 70 |
| management | Hendrik Agur |
| Website | www.gag.ee |
The Gustav Adolf Gymnasium ( Estonian Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium ) is the oldest still existing high school in Estonia . It looks back on almost four hundred years of history.
history
17th century
In the Polish-Swedish War of 1629, Estonia and Livonia fell completely under the Swedish krona. The Swedish government had the will to raise the level of education in the region and above all to train local government officials, theologians and doctors. The educational measures initiated included the establishment of the university in Tartu ( Dorpat ) in 1632, the establishment of a printing works in Tallinn in 1633 and the creation of a boys' high school for nobles and city citizens in the Estonian capital.
Today's Gustav Adolf Gymnasium was launched on February 16, 1631. The establishment was supported by the Tallinn Council and the Estonian Knighthood . King Gustav II Adolf , who was at war in Germany, confirmed the establishment a few weeks later. The school was inaugurated on June 6, 1631. The first name of the school was Revalsches Gymnasium (Latin Gymnasium Revaliense ). Reval is the historical German name of the city of Tallinn .
The grammar school is the oldest secondary school in Tallinn. The upper town, the Tallinn Domberg , with the German-speaking knight and cathedral school founded before the middle of the 14th century, was a self-governing unit until the end of the 19th century that did not belong to the lower town, the actual Tallinn ( Reval ).
From 1645 to 1745 the school offered four years of training. The classes were divided into quarta, tertia, secunda and, as a final class, great . At that time, four professors and two colleagues (teachers for the lower classes) taught at the grammar school . The school was run by the principal, who was chosen from among the professors. The subjects were rhetoric , poetry , Greek , Hebrew , mathematics , theology , history and Latin . The language of instruction was mostly Latin. The school library is documented from 1654.
18th century
As a result of the Northern War , Estonia fell to the Russian Empire in 1710 . The school was renamed the Imperial City Gymnasium in the same year . From 1725 Russian was also taught at the school . In 1745 a fifth grade ( quinta ) was added to the curriculum.
19th century
From January 1805, the school was reformed as part of the educational measures of Tsar Alexander I and renamed the Gouvernements-Gymnasium to Reval . Classes in Latin were replaced by German-language classes. Seven senior teachers and five so-called “scientific teachers” (sub-teachers) worked at the school. From 1805 three classes were taught at the school, from 1821 five classes, from 1861 seven classes and from 1890 eight classes.
In 1890 the school was renamed again. It was named the grammar school of Emperor Nikolai I. In the course of the increasing Russification policy of the Tsarist Empire , from 1892 lessons were only held in Russian. Conversations at the school in German were prohibited. In 1905 a Russian school uniform was introduced.
20th century
In connection with the First World War , teaching was severely restricted from 1914. The school was converted into a hospital.
During the German occupation of Estonia from February to November 1918, the Prussian school system was also introduced at the grammar school. Lessons were held in German and a German-Balte was appointed director. The German occupying power named the school Gustav Adolf Gymnasium after its founder .
With the collapse of the Empire , the takeover of government by the Estonian government and the outbreak of the Estonian War of Independence , the school was closed for a few months on December 6, 1918.
With the modern Estonian School Act of 1923, the grammar school became a purely Estonian-speaking educational institution. The first foreign language was German; English, French, Russian and Latin were also taught. In the same year the school was renamed Tallinna Linna Poeglaste Humanitaargümnaasium ("Tallinn City Boys' High School "). With Estonia's foreign policy rapprochement with the Nordic countries, particularly Sweden and Finland, the school was renamed Gustav Adolf Gymnasium again in 1932 .
With the Soviet occupation of Estonia, the grammar school was renamed Tallinna 1. Keskkool ("1. Tallinn Middle School") in 1940 . Religious education and philosophy were banned as subjects.
With the German occupation of Estonia (1941 to 1944) the school got its old name back. The curriculum was redesigned in the spirit of German National Socialism. The school also lost its building, which the Wehrmacht moved into.
With the reconquest of the Baltic States by the Red Army , the second Soviet occupation of Estonia began. Until the end of the Estonian SSR the grammar school was again called 1. Tallinn Middle School . From the school year 1945/46, elementary school lessons were also offered in addition to the higher grades. In the fall of 1950 the previous boys' high school became a coeducational school.
High school today
In 1990, shortly before Estonia was separated from the Soviet Union and regained independence, the Estonian government decided to rename the school again to the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf.
Today the school is considered to be Tallinn's elite high school. Teaching takes place in both primary and secondary levels. Around seventy teachers teach around 1,100 students from the first to the twelfth grade.
School complex
The school was initially housed in the west wing of the Cistercian convent St. Michaelis, founded in 1249 in Tallinn's old town . The monastery was founded in the 13th century. It is right on the Tallinn city wall .
Today the school is located in the east wing of the former monastery, which has been heavily redesigned over the course of several centuries. The school was given its current appearance in 1910. A gymnasium was added to the school in 1912. The last major renovation of the school complex was made in 2008.
In 2006 a small school museum was inaugurated.
Name of the school
| Period | Estonian name | German name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1631-1653 | Tallinna Gümnaasium | Revalsches Gymnasium | Revaliense high school |
| 1653-1710 | Tallinna Kuninglik Gümnaasium | Royal High School in Reval | |
| 1710-1805 | Tallinna Linna Keizerlik Gümnaasium | Imperial city high school in Reval | |
| 1805-1890 | Tallinna Kubermangugümnaasium | Reval Governorate High School | |
| 1890-1917 | Tallinna Nikolai I Gümnaasium | High school of Emperor Nikolai I in Reval | |
| 1917 | Tallinna Linna Poeglaste Gümnaasium | Municipal high school for boys in Reval | |
| 1918 | Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium | Gustav Adolf High School | |
| 1918-1932 | Tallinna Linna Poeglaste Humanitaargümnaasium | City high school for boys in Tallinn | |
| 1932-1940 | Tallinna Linna Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium | City Gustav Adolf High School in Tallinn | |
| 1940/41 | Tallinna 1. Keskkool | 1. Tallinn Middle School | Таллинская средняя школа № 1 |
| 1941-1944 | Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium | Gustav Adolf High School | |
| 1944-1990 | Tallinna 1. Keskkool | 1. Tallinn Middle School | Таллинская средняя школа № 1 |
| since 1991 | Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium | Gustav Adolf High School |
Directors (selection)
- Sigismund Evenius (1631/1632)
- Aleksis Kuusik (1919-1940 and 1944-1946)
- Helmi Viikholm (1962-1982)
- Ain Siimann (1982-2005)
- Hendrik Agur (since 2005)
literature
- Endel Laul (Ed.): Tallinna 1. keskkool 1631-1981. NSV Liidu vanima keskkooli minevik ja tänapäev. Tallinn 1981.
- Helda Venderström (Ed.): Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasiumi koolilood. Tallinn 2009.
Web links
- Official website (Estonian, English, French, Swedish)
- Entry in Eesti Entsüklopeedia (online version)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.gag.ee/index.php?categoryid=60
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 14, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
