King Sigismund Augustus Gymnasium in Vilnius was a Polish high school ( gymnasium) for boys that existed in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

from 1915 to 1939.

History

Establishment

The gymnasium was established in late August 1915 as a school of the Polish Teachers Association – at the same time a female school, later the in Vilnius, began operating. The initiator of the establishment of these institutions was , who supervised their operation for the next few years. The association operated in Vilnius as a self-help association of female teachers, and secretly organized education for Polish youth since 1896. From the retreating Russian authorities, the association obtained permission to organize gymnasium courses. The first director of the school, then located at 10 Wileńska Street, was Stanisław Zieliński. Its initial name was the 1st Male Gymnasium of the Association Polish Teachers and Educators.

Operations

For the first three years (1915–1917) the school faced many problems, caused both by the activities of the German occupation authorities and the lack of financial resources. The situation was even worse during the occupation of the city by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

, but education was not interrupted. The situation improved after the capture of Vilnius by the Polish army in April 1919 – the school received material support from the state authorities, and moved to a spacious building at 11 Mała Pohulanka Street. Zygmunt Fedorowicz took over the management of the school. In 1920 the gymnasium became public institution and took the name of King

Sigismund II Augustus Sigismund II Augustus (, ; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and t ...

. Since 1932, as a result of the

Jędrzejewicz reform Jędrzejewicz reform was a major reform of the education in the Second Polish Republic, implemented in 1932. It reorganized the structure of Polish education, which diverged into three different systems during the era of partitions of Poland.Jaros� ...

, the school became the King Sigismund Augustus Gymnasium and High School. It ceased to exist, like other Polish secondary schools in Vilnius, in December 1939 when Vilnius was part of Lithuania. It was transformed into the Vilnius State Municipal Gymnasium.

Directors

Until 1924, the head of the gymnasium was Zygmunt Fedorowicz, and from 1924 the director of the gymnasium was Jan Zelski.

Alumni

Graduates of the Sigismund Augustus Gymnasium included Edward Borowski, Witold Czarnecki (architect), Antoni Gołubiew, Zbigniew Ihnatowicz,

Tadeusz Konwicki Tadeusz Konwicki (22 June 1926 – 7 January 2015) was a Polish writer and film director, as well as a member of the Polish Language Council. Life Konwicki was born in 1926 as the only son of Jadwiga Kieżun and Michał Konwicki in Naujoji Vil ...

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz ( , , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish language, Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the ...

, Jan Safarewicz, Andrew Schally,

Stanisław Stomma Stanisław Stomma (born – 21 July 2005) was a Polish lawyer, habilitated doctor of law, specialist in criminal law, academic teacher, publicist, Catholic activist, and politician. From 1957 to 1976, he was a member of ''Sejm'' of the Polish Pe ...

, Andrzej Święcicki, Ignacy Święcicki, Wiktor Trościanko, Ananiasz Zajączkowski, Czesław Zgorzelski, Józef Żyliński, Ryszard Kiersnowski, Longin Ambros (see

Victor Ambros Victor R. Ambros (born December 1, 1953) is an American developmental biologist who discovered the first known microRNA (miRNA). He is a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He completed both his undergraduate and doct ...

), and many others.

References

Bibliography

* * Defunct schools in Vilnius Educational institutions established in 1915 Educational institutions disestablished in 1939 {{Improve categories, date=February 2024