Palanga Progymnasium () was a

progymnasium ''Gymnasium'' (and variations of the word) is a term in various European languages for a secondary school that prepares students for higher education at a university. It is comparable to the US English term '' preparatory high school'' or th ...

(middle school) that operated from 1886 to 1915 in

Palanga Palanga (; ; ) is a resort town, resort city in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest and the largest summer resort in Lithuania and has sand, sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long and up to 300 metres, 10 ...

, then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. It was a four-class Russian school for boys sponsored by graf . Several notable Lithuanians attended the school, including four signatories of the

Act of Independence of Lithuania The Act of Independence of Lithuania () or the Act of February 16th, also the Lithuanian Resolution on Independence (),The signed document is actually titled simply , meaning 'decision' or 'resolution', and it "proclaims the restoration of the ...

History

In 1886, graf established the progymnasium (four-class school) in place of a German-language town school. Tyszkiewicz financed the school, but it had same rights as a government school. The school belonged to the . At the time, Palanga was a small remote town with no railway connections. The school had 100 to 150 students. It taught religion, Latin, Greek, French, Russian languages, Russian literature, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, ancient and Russian history, natural sciences, drawing, cursive, singing, gymnastics. After graduation, a number of students continued to study at

Kaunas Priest Seminary Kaunas Priest Seminary () is the largest seminary in Lithuania serving the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaunas. It is part of the Faculty of Theology of Vytautas Magnus University. Its current rector is Aurelijus Žukauskas. As of 2007, the semi ...

or other schools, most frequently in

Jelgava Gymnasium Jelgava Gymnasium or Academia Petrina is the oldest higher educational establishment in Latvia. Based on an idea by , it was established in Jelgava, Mitau, capital of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, by Duke Peter von Biron in 1775. The duke ...

Liepāja Gymnasium Liepāja Nicolai Gymnasium was a six-year (later seven) gymnasium (high school) in Liepāja (Libau), Courland Governorate, Russian Empire. It was established in 1865 on the basis of a school that traced its roots to 1848. The school was named in ...

in present-day

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

where they could get admitted without further examination to the 5th grade. In 1913, when the school had 153 students, it was reorganized into a gymnasium. However, due to World War I, the school was evacuated in September 1915 first to

Võru Võru (; ; ) is a town and a municipality in south-eastern Estonia. It is the capital of Võru County and the centre of Võru Parish. History Võru was founded on 21 August 1784, at the request of the Empress Catherine II of Russia, by the o ...

in Estonia and then to

Stavropol Stavropol (, ), known as Voroshilovsk from 1935 until 1943, is a city and the administrative centre of Stavropol Krai, in southern Russia. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 547,820, making it one of Russia's fastest growing cities. E ...

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

School building

The school occupied a two-floor brick building constructed by bishop

Ignacy Jakub Massalski Prince Ignacy Massalski () (1726–1794) was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman. Ignacy became a Catholic priest and was named Bishop of Vilnius by Pope Clement XIII on 29 March 1762.''Hierarchia Catholica medii et recentioris aevi'', v. VI, Patavii ...

(1726–1794). It stood near the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and was previously used as a

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

. The school building was one of 318 buildings destroyed on 10 May 1938 during a major city fire.

Student life

The school admitted boys but had no requirements for student age or social status. Therefore, it was attended by several older students already in their 20s. The school was attended by students of various faiths (Catholics, Jews, Eastern Orthodoxs, and Protestants). It charged 52

Russian rubles The ruble or rouble (; symbol: ₽; ISO code: RUB) is the currency of the Russian Federation. Banknotes and coins are issued by the Central Bank of Russia, which is Russia's monetary authority independent of all other government bodies. Article ...

per year for tuition. In 1893, a separate society was formed to provide financial aid to the financially underprivileged. Tuition wavers were also available for good grades. Therefore, the school was a popular choice for students of lower classes. Both students and teachers wore school uniform. Most students lived in private dormitories. Russian language was used both for instruction and after classes. Most teachers were Russians, with a few Germans and Latvians. However, Palanga was then part of the

Courland Governorate Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland or Governorate of Kurland, and known from 1795 to 1796 as the Viceroyalty of Courland, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the ...

where

Russification Russification (), Russianisation or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians adopt Russian culture and Russian language either voluntarily or as a result of a deliberate state policy. Russification was at times ...

policies were not as strict as in the

Vilna Governorate-General Vilna Governorate-General (, ), known as Lithuania Governorate-General before 1830, was a Governorate-General of the Russian Empire from 1794 to 1912. It primarily encompassed the Vilna, Grodno, and Kovno Governorates. Governors General were als ...

. Several Lithuanian students who later became prominent figures in Lithuanian politics and culture attended the school. They organized small student groups and shared the banned Lithuanian press which was smuggled from

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. Their activities were supported by Catholic school chaplains and Juozapas Viksva. In 1896, Tsarist authorities demanded that Lithuanian Catholic students would pray in Russian. School chaplain resisted such orders, but fearing persecution traveled to Rome to study canon law. Several students were expelled in connection with the protest, but were later readmitted. In 1899, two students participated in staging ''

America in the Bathhouse ''America in the Bathhouse'' () is a three-act comedy by Keturakis (pen name of brothers and ). The play was first published in 1895. It became the first Lithuanian-language play performed in public in present-day Lithuania when a group of Lithu ...

'', the first public Lithuanian-language theater performance in present-day Lithuania.

Notable alumni

Several notable Lithuanians attended the school, including four signatories of the

and eight ministers in

interwar Lithuania In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

. In February 2018, for the 100th anniversary of the Act of Independence of Lithuania, a monument titled the Alley of the Signatories was unveiled at the location of the school. Notable alumni included:

References

{{coord, 55, 55, 05, N, 21, 03, 58, E, display=title, region:LT_type:edu 1886 establishments in the Russian Empire 1915 disestablishments in the Russian Empire Educational institutions established in 1886 Educational institutions disestablished in 1915 Culture in Palanga History of education in Lithuania Schools in the Russian Empire