The First Romanian School ( ro, Prima școală românească) is located on the grounds of the 16th-century St. Nicholas Church, itself located in the historic district of

Șcheii Brașovului Șcheii Brașovului ( hu, Bolgárszeg, german: Belgerei or more recently ''Obere Vorstadt''; traditional Romanian name: ''Bulgărimea'', colloquially ''Șchei'') is the old ethnically Bulgarian and Romanian neighborhood of Brașov, a city in south ...

, in what is now

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. This is the first school on the territory of present-day Romania where

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communities in ...

was used in teaching (in 1583; up to then, Romanians used

Church Slavonic language Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzeg ...

in education).

History

The building was erected in 1495, in a location then part of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

, but according to researcher Vasile Oltean, the school had started to function before the 15th century.Prima școală românească - Începuturi by Vasile Oltean The first Romanian-language classes were held in 1583. It was rebuilt in 1597. The background of the students was varied and, being the only Romanian school in this region of

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

, people came from far and wide. Each village paid for one student to attend the school, in order to learn to teach upon returning and share their education. Over time, a total of 1,730 students attended the school; however there were at most 110 at any given time.

As a museum

The school remained in use until 1850, when Andrei Șaguna College was opened. The collections of archaic and original items were gathered starting in 1933 and were first organized in a museum in 1964. It houses a variety of early Slavic and Romanian books, the first Romanian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

, and what can be loosely described as the first school magazine. The library contains six thousand books which were used in the school. The museum also contains the first Romanian

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

. Only 39 books were made by this press, which is hardly surprising given the labour required, however the work it did produce included plenty more firsts. The first Romanian letter in Latin was produced by the press, the first Romanian schoolbook and the first Bible, which was printed on goatskin and had a cover weighing a hefty . The plaque above the school entrance reads: "This ancient place of learning, the first Romanian school in all of

Greater Romania The term Greater Romania ( ro, România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea. As a concept, its main goal is the creation ...

, was completely rebuilt in stone in the years 1595–1597 through the generous gift of Prince Aron of

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

and through the care for learning of the Archpriest Mihai, being built anew in the year 1761. Flowering under the shield of the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

, it served for hundreds of years as a centre of education for youth and adults. And after the most important primary schools and the Orthodox high school of Brașov were built, t functionedas a meeting place for the parish council and later sheltered the historic archives of St. Nicholas Church. Year 1946."

References

{{Coord, 45.635842, 25.581191, display=title Schools in Romania Social history of Romania History of Brașov Educational institutions established in the 1580s Historic monuments in Brașov County