History

Construction of a gymnasium resulted from rapid demographic, economic, spacial and administrative development of Olsztyn in the late 19th century. Creation of a gymnasium— a state school preparing to higher studies — was one of the determinants of significance of the city. In 1877, a municipal high school for boys were established, which was then transformed into a lower gymnasium. In 1878, a gym was built on the plot designated for the future school at a main, representative street of the  developing city centre area, the then Wartemborska (Barczewska) Street. In 1885, the school obtained the status of a state institution. In 1886–1887, a new seat of the Royal Classic Gymnasium was built according to a design developed by state authorities supervising centralised German education. After 1901, the building was slightly extended to the  south, with the façades maintained strictly in the style of the whole building. Since 1945, the building has been used in Polish education, since 1960, as the Adam Mickiewicz 1st Upper Secondary Comprehensive School. In 1965, a bust of the school's patron by Balbina Świtycz-Widacka was unveiled in front of the school. In 1972, a general renovation of the interior was carried out; in 1978, ceramic and scratch-work decorations were created in the school's hall and in lecture hall.

Description

The building of the school is located today at the junction of Dąbrowszczaków and Mickiewicza Streets. It is located on an edge of a  spacious, elongated plot of land with a garden with old-growth trees, sport grounds, and a historic gym. In the front of the school, there is a representative green square with a beautiful historical specimen of red beech. The school was built of a floor plan shaped as an elongated rectangle with avant-corps on the axis and on the end sections. It is a  two-storey building with a usable basement level (called Hades by the  students). The building body is compact and covered with a gable roof, the middle avant-corps protrude farther and are slightly elevated. The  building features a vestibule on the ground floor, and on the second floor a spacious, representative school lecture hall. The building is made of tapestry brick, and its roof is covered with ceramic roof tiles. The front façade was originally symmetrical, with a representative entrance on the axis of the ground floor of the avant-corps, and over it there are three triple, high pointed-arch windows enabling additional light to the lecture hall. Over the avant-corps in the front façade and over the original side axes (before extension to the south), there are triple gables with pinnacle; with small pointed-arch windows in the  gable surface. The façade articulated by regular rows of large class room windows, with end sections in the form of segmental arch. The  interior layout is two-and-a-half-bay, with wide corridors leading to class rooms on both sides. In the entrance hall, there is a staircase with a decorative, forged balustrade; the representative lecture hall features a beamed ceiling; on the wall over the entrance there is an immense scholarly oil painting by Heinrich Gaertner, "Iphigénie en Tauride", bought to the school in 1894.

The historical building is open to visitors. A public building — the  seat of the Adam Mickiewicz 1st Comprehensive Upper Secondary School in Olsztyn.

Compiled by Joanna Piotrowska, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Olsztyn, 13.08.2014.

Bibliography

• A. Rzempołuch, Architektura i urbanistyka Olsztyna 1353-1953. Od założenia miasta po odbudowę ze zniszczeń wojennych, Olsztyn 2005, s. 72-73.
• www.lo1.olsztyn.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41&Itemid=40