| Academic Gymnasium Danzig | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Gdańsk, Poland | |
| Information | |
| Established | 1558 |
| Campus | Urban |
The Academic Gymnasium Danzig (Polish: Gdańskie Gimnazjum Akademickie, German: Akademisches Gymnasium Danzig) was a school founded in Danzig (Gdańsk), Poland[3] [4], It was founded in 1558 by Johann Hoppe (1512-1565), who had previously worked at schools in Culm Chełmno and Elbing Elbląg until Catholic prince-bishop Stanislaus Hosius closed them. For most of its existence it had a character similar to that of a university and since 1580 was named Akademisches Gymnasium Danzig.
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It was in operation as educational gymnasium for Lutheran clergy till 1817.[1] It was one of the most developed educational centers in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.[1] It also was the site of Collegium Medicum-one of the first associations of doctors in Polish territories.[1]
1817 it was changed to a humanistic Gymnasium and named Städtisches Gymnasium Danzig, in contrast to the earlier the (royal) Königliches Gymnasium.
With many cities in Prussia becoming Lutheran, its citizens started to seek Lutheran education. The University of Königsberg in neighbouring state of Ducal Prussia, founded in 1544, was not big enough to educate all the new Protestant clerics and administrators needed for the newly Lutheran state in addition to arrivals from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , so local Latin schools in the Commonwealth were upgraded. The future home of the Gymnasium would be the former Franciscan monastery turned into a school. In 1539, a Schola Dantiscana[2] program was started by Andreas Aurifaber. In 1558 Johann Hoppe founded a humanistic gymnasium that would become the Academic Gymnasium Danzig. Achatius Curaeus (1531-1594), from the University of Wittenberg, was made the first rector, but due to the theological conflicts between Gnesio-Lutherans and Philippists, he soon left.
In 1580, the school received the title Academic Gymnasium. Along with similar schools in Elbing and Thorn (now Elblag, Torun), the gymnasium transformed the province of Royal Prussia into a center of classical studies in the 16th century.[3]
The Academic Gymnasium Danzig was in operation until March 1945, when Danzig along with all other eastern Germany east of the Oder-Neisse line were conquered by the Soviet Union.
People connected with it are, among others, Bartholomäus Keckermann, Johannes Hevelius, Andreas Gryphius, Christian Hoffmann von Hoffmannswaldau, Peter Crüger, Abraham Calov, Michael Christoph Hanow (Hanov(ious), Gottfried Lengnich, Hugo Münsterberg, Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
Due to 450th anniversary of foundation of the Academic Gymnasium at Gdansk, Poland since 1945, which is on 13 June 2008, the National Museum in Gdańsk unveiled a memorial table dedicated to it and its contributions as part of Polish scholary and educational system.[4]
Rectors of Akademic Gymnasium Danzig:
First rector Humanist Achatius Curaeus, advisor Johann Hoppe
