The Lessing-Gymnasium (together with its twin school Goethe-Gymnasium) is the oldest Gymnasium in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. Named after

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (; ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a German philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the dev ...

, it was founded in 1519 by the city council. In 2015 there was a controversy over this school refusing admission to students who were moving up from primary school and who were trying to gain admission to top Frankfurt secondary schools. The headmaster argued that secondary schools have the right to admit the students they desire.

Curriculum

Gotthold-Ephraim-Lessing-koloriert-am-Lessing-Gymnasium-Frankfurt LWS2959

The first foreign languages are

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and English starting in 5th grade. In the 8th grade the pupils have to choose between

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

. The school also has several orchestras and choirs.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of the Lessing-Gymnasium include: *

Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to b ...

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

* Friedrich Klausing, Nazi resistance fighter and one of the 20 July Plottershttps://frankfurt.de/frankfurt-entdecken-und-erleben/stadtportrait/stadtgeschichte/stolpersteine/stolpersteine-in-eschersheim/familien/klausing-friedrich-karl * Gustav Koerner, German-American politician *

Georg Friedrich Grotefend Georg Friedrich Grotefend (9 June 1775 – 15 December 1853) was a German epigraphist and philologist. He is known mostly for his contributions toward the decipherment of cuneiform. Georg Friedrich Grotefend had a son, named Carl Ludwig Gr ...

* Peter Stein *

Karl Schwarzschild Karl Schwarzschild (; 9 October 1873 – 11 May 1916) was a German physicist and astronomer. Schwarzschild provided the first exact solution to the Einstein field equations of general relativity, for the limited case of a single spherical non-r ...

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Florian Maria Georg Christian Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck (; born 2 May 1973) is a German-Austrian film director. He is best known for writing and directing the 2006 dramatic thriller ''Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)'', which won ...

Boris Rhein Boris Rhein (born 2 January 1972) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Minister-President of Hesse since 2022. He has been active in the politics of Hesse since the late 1990s. After ...

References

Schools in Frankfurt 1519 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 16th-century establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Educational institutions established in the 1510s {{Germany-school-stub