Type Public Established 1607 Enrollment Around 500 | Religious affiliation(s) Catholic Age range Aged 15 to 19 | |
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Motto Patria, Humanitas, Officium, Fides | ||
The Classical Gymnasium (Croatian: Klasična gimnazija) is a gymnasium high school (similar to a grammar school in England and Wales) situated in Zagreb, Croatia. It was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1607. In its first year it had 260 students, and it operated on the basis of the Jesuit programme "Ratio atque institutio studiorum societatis Jesu".
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Programme
The program, lasting four years, is based on combining classical education, with emphasis on humanities (namely languages including Latin and Ancient Greek, philosophy, literature, history, fine arts, music and theatre) with sciences and extracurricular activities.
Pupils study five languages: Latin, Ancient Greek, Croatian, English and one additional foreign language. They also study Croatian and World Literature, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, IT, History, Fine Arts, Music, Philosophy, Logic, Politics and Economy, Sociology, Psychology and attend exercise classes. Most of these subjects are taught for 4 years. Pupils are free to choose additional subjects on top of the compulsory ones, such as Religious studies, Ethics, and additional foreign languages.
The school has additional classes on alternate Saturdays. Pupils take on extra-curricular activities including ancient drama, choir singing, pottery, educational travel, and public speaking. The school's drama group stage one classic ancient play each year which usually premières in a Zagreb theatre.
Although originally following a Christian educational model, today's school is a completely secular institution comparable to English grammar schools. During the communist Yugoslav regime, in 1977 the name "gymnasium" was banned and the school became the Educational Language Center, but it preserved its spirit and the classical programme (including tuition of Latin and Greek languages).
Damage during the war
The school's back yard was hit by an Orkan rocket on 2 May 1995 during the rocket attack on Zagreb in the Croatian War of Independence. The attack was noted in the trial judgement in the Martic case at the ICTY at paragraph 305. The attack occurred during class-time which prevented many casualties which would have occurred had it been break-time, during which students roam the back yard on warm May days. The damage was soon repaired.
400th anniversary
During the 2006/2007 school year, the school celebrated its 400th year anniversary with educational, historical, and entertaining festivities which include symposia and speeches, charity rock concerts, three Greek plays and open days.