The Collège Calvin, formerly the Collège de Genève, is the oldest public

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin.

History

On February 24, 1428, the ''Conseil Général'' of

decided to establish a college in Rive, near the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

, and near the . In it was taught the liberal arts and university studies, which Genevan people had previously had to go abroad to study. After the Protestant Reformation, school was made obligatory and free for poor people on May 21, 1536. A new college was founded, this time in the Franciscan convent. It was not until May 29, 1559, after the Leges Academiae Genevensis (Order of Collège de Genève) that work began on the actual building of a new official Collège de Genève and Université de Genève. This building would eventually house the Collège de Genève alone. The original edifice is now part of a complex, with a wing added in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

, another wing and building in the 19th century, and a final building added in 1987. The Collège de Genève was renamed the Collège Calvin in 1969, after its founder, the French Protestant reformer John Calvin.

System

The Collège Calvin is one of the Postobligatory Secondary Education Schools in Geneva, specifically under the ''Formation Gymnasiale'' collèges. Students who want to pursue an education past the (obligatory) Cycle d'Orientation enter the four-year college from 15 to 19.

Notable alumni

* Joseph Baskin * Marc Bonnant * Jorge Luis Borges * : Les trois demoiselles du père Maire, Le centenaire de Jean Jacques, L'école du dimanche * Henry Dunant * Barbara Hofmann * Philippe Monnier: Le livre de Blaise * Gustave Moynier * Marcel Junod *

Didier Pittet Didier Pittet (born 20 March 1957 in Geneva, Switzerland) is an infectious diseases expert and the director of thInfection Control ProgrammeanWHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety

* Jan A. Rajchman (1911-1989) * Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) * Jean Starobinski * Rodolphe Töpffer (1799-1846) * Andrew Le Mercier (1692-1764) * Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778-1841)

References

External links

Official Collège Calvin Website

Schools in Geneva Educational institutions established in the 1550s 1559 establishments in Europe {{Switzerland-school-stub