Katedralskolan i Åbo (the Cathedral School of Åbo) is the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

-language upper secondary school of

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, located at the Old Great Square (the town, former capital of

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, is known as ''Åbo'' in Swedish). The school believes that it was founded in 1276 for the education of boys to become servants of the Church. The schoolhouse was situated within the wall surrounding the

Cathedral of Turku Turku Cathedral ( fi, Turun tuomiokirkko, sv, Åbo domkyrka) is the only medieval basilica in Finland and the Mother Church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. It is the central church of the Lutheran Archdiocese of Turku and the seat ...

Mikael Agricola Mikael Agricola (; c. 1510 – 9 April 1557) was a Finnish Lutheran clergyman who became the de facto founder of literary Finnish and a prominent proponent of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden, including Finland, which was a Swedish territo ...

, the founder of Finnish literature, was the

headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

of the school 1539-1548. When

the Royal Academy of Turku The Royal Academy of Turku or the Royal Academy of Åbo ( sv, Kungliga Akademin i Åbo or ; la, Regia Academia Aboensis; fi, Turun akatemia) was the first university in Finland, and the only Finnish university that was founded when the country ...

, now the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

, was founded in 1640, the senior part of the school formed the core of the new university, while the junior year courses formed a ''trivialskola'', a grammar school. The graduates of Turku Cathedral School were eligible to be admitted to the university. The current schoolhouse was built after the

Great Fire of Turku The Great Fire of Turku ( fi, Turun palo, sv, Åbo brand and russian: Пожар Або) was a conflagration in the city of Turku in 1827. It is still the largest urban fire in the history of Finland and the Nordic countries. The city had burned ...

in 1827. In 1830, the city of Turku also obtained a ''gymnasium'', a higher secondary school, while the older Catedral School became a preparatory school of the new ''gymnasium''. To reflect this, the name of the Cathedral School was changed in 1840 to ''Högre Elementarläroverk'', literally "Higher Elementary School". In the education reform of 1872, the ''Högre Elementarläroverk'' and the ''gymnasium'' were merged into ''Svenska klassiska lyceum i Åbo'', a Swedish-speaking classical school. In the 1970s ''Svenska klassiska lyceum'' and '' Åbo svenska flicklyceum'', The Swedish Girls' Secondary School of Turku, were united and the old school name Katedralskolan i Åbo, the Cathedral School of Turku, was revived. Since the Swedish Reformation in the early 16th century, the Cathedral School and its successors had been financed by the state. In 1977, the introduction of the comprehensive school system in Turku also caused the transferral of the ''Katedralskolan'' to the City of Turku. At the same time, the school lost its five lowest classes (age groups 10–15). Since then, the Cathedral School has denoted the three-year upper secondary school at Gamla Stortorget 1, providing academically-oriented secondary education to comprehensive school graduates. In theory, the ''Katedralskolan'' is the oldest institution of learning of Finland as it has an organizational continuity from the medieval Cathedral school, founded in 1276.

Publications

External links

*
Official websiteA short history of the school
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katedralskolan I Abo Education in Turku Schools in Finland Educational institutions established in the 13th century 1276 establishments in Europe fi:Katedralskolan i Åbo