Ion Luca Caragiale National College () is a high school located at 98 Gheorghe Doja Street,

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Ble ...

, Romania. The school traces its origins to the boys' gymnasium that opened in 1864. A first grade of nineteen pupils was quickly joined by a second of eighteen. The first dedicated school building, designed by Alexandru Orăscu, was started in 1865 and completed the following year. In 1866, the school was named for Saints Peter and Paul, after an old church nearby.A Short History of "I L Caragiale" National College
at the Ion Luca Caragiale National College site The gymnasium operated for fourteen years, including during the

Romanian War of Independence The Romanian War of Independence () is the name used in Romanian historiography to refer to the phase of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), in which Romania, fighting on the Russian side of the war, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. On ...

, when a Russian chapel was installed in the schoolyard beneath a large white tent. The school year was divided into trimesters, each of which ended in an examination. By 1876–1877, there were 23 subjects being taught, divided into twelve departments, each with its own chairman.Short history
at the Ion Luca Caragiale National College site The institution became a high school in 1878. A new building, started in 1895, was opened in 1898; it was a source of pride for the city's residents. In 1944, during World War II, it suffered severe damage as a result of Allied bombing. In 1948, under the new

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

, the school moved into the Commercial School Palace. With the closure of other institutions, it became the only high school in Ploiești and all of

Prahova County Prahova County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploiești. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 762,886 and the population density was 161/k ...

. In 1952, for the centenary of his birth, it was renamed for playwright

Ion Luca Caragiale Ion Luca Caragiale (; According to his birth certificate, published and discussed by Constantin Popescu-Cadem in ''Manuscriptum'', Vol. VIII, Nr. 2, 1977, pp. 179–184 – 9 June 1912), commonly referred to as I. L. Caragiale, was a Romanians, ...

. Girls were first admitted in 1956. Under

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

, 12th grade was restored in 1965–1966; in 1977, its stated focus became mathematics and physics. It was declared a national college in 1997. The current school building, which dates to 1936, is listed as a

historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, as are its two predecessors. The school currently has a gym, boarding rooms, an open air

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meani ...

, handball field, basketball field, ping-pong tables, a track, an

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

and a

cafeteria A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a scho ...

Alumni

* Fory Etterle * Remus Opriș *

Eugen Simion Eugen Simion (25 May 1933 – 18 October 2022) was a Romanian literary critic and historian, editor, essayist and academic. Born in Chiojdeanca, Prahova County, the son of two farmers, Simion completed his secondary education at the Saints Pe ...

Nichita Stănescu Nichita Stănescu (; born Nichita Hristea Stănescu; 31 March 1933 – 13 December 1983) was a Romanian poet and essayist. Biography Stănescu's father was Nicolae Hristea Stănescu (1908–1982). His mother, Tatiana Cereaciuchin, was Russian ...

* Andrei Rădulescu * Mihai Drăgănescu *

Paul Constantinescu Paul Constantinescu (; 30 June 1909, Ploiești – 20 December 1963) was a Romanian composer. Two of his main influences are Romanian folk music and Byzantine chant, both of which he used in his teaching. One of his students was composer Margar ...

Grigore Tocilescu Grigore George Tocilescu (26 October 1850 – 18 September 1909) was a Romanian historian, archaeologist, epigrapher and folkorist, and member of the Romanian Academy. He was a professor of ancient history at the University of Bucharest, author ...

Constantin Ion Parhon Constantin Ion Parhon (; 15 October 1874 – 9 August 1969) was a Romanian neuropsychiatrist, endocrinologist and politician. He was the first head of state of the Romanian People's Republic from 1947 to 1952. Parhon was President of the Physici ...

* Ștefan Gh. Nicolau *

Iosif Iser Iosif Iser (21 May 1881 – 25 April 1958; born and died in Bucharest) was a Romanian painter and graphic artist. Born to a History of the Jews in Romania, Jewish family, he was initially inspired by Expressionism, creating drawings with thick, ...

Geo Bogza Geo Bogza (; born Gheorghe Bogza; February 6, 1908 – September 14, 1993) was a Romanian avant-garde theorist, poet, and journalist, known for his left-wing and Communism, communist political convictions. As a young man in the interwar period, h ...

* Octav Doicescu * Petre Paul Negulescu * Ticu Dumitrescu *

Nicolae Simache Nicolae Simache (November 5, 1905 – January 6, 1972) was a Romanian teacher, historian, and writer. Born in Cosminele, Prahova County, he studied at the Ion Luca Caragiale National College (Ploiești), Saints Peter and Paul High School in ...

Notes

External links

Official site
{{coord, 44.9453, 26.0262, type:edu_region:RO, display=title Historic monuments in Prahova County Ploiești Schools in Prahova County Educational institutions established in 1864 1864 establishments in Romania National Colleges in Romania School buildings completed in 1936