Liepāja Nicolai Gymnasium was a six-year (later seven) gymnasium (high school) in

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

(Libau),

Courland Governorate Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland or Governorate of Kurland, and known from 1795 to 1796 as the Viceroyalty of Courland, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. It was established in 1865 on the basis of a school that traced its roots to 1848.Nikolaja ģimnāzija – atskatoties uz dibināšanas 150. jubileju
/ref> The school was named in honor of

Nicholas Alexandrovich, Tsesarevich of Russia Nicholas Alexandrovich (; – ) was tsesarevich—the heir apparent—of Imperial Russia from 2 March 1855 until his death in 1865. Early life Grand Duke Nicholas was born on 1843, in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo south of central S ...

. The school building was constructed in 1883–1885 by architect Paul Max Bertschy.Liepājas Valsts tehnikums, dibināts 1920. gadā
/ref> The school was diverse in students' religious and ethnic background. For example, in 1884, out of 398 pupils, 161 were

Evangelical Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

s (41.2%), 130 Jews (33.3%), 76 Catholics (19.4%) and 22 Eastern Orthodoxs (5.6%). The curriculum devoted substantial attention to the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Greek language Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...

s. The language of instruction was switched from German to Russian in 1887. The school continued to function until its evacuation to

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

(1915).

Principals

School principals were: *Karl Lessevs (Carl Lessew, 1865–1869) *Nikolai Lenstrēms (Nicolai Lenström, 1870–1883) *Albert Volgemuts (Albert Wohlgemuth, 1883–1905) *Nicolai Papilov (1905–1908)

Prominent students

Many prominent Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, and German people studied at the gymnasium, including: * Leonas Bistras, Prime Minister of Lithuania * Balys Dvarionas, Lithuanian composer *

Oswald Külpe Theodor Oswald Rudolph Külpe (; 3 August 1862 – 30 December 1915) was a German structural psychologist of the late 19th and early 20th century. Külpe, who is less well-known than his German mentor, Wilhelm Wundt, revolutionized experimental p ...

, German psychologist * Juozas Matulis, Lithuanian chemist and physicist *

Gabriel Narutowicz Gabriel Józef Narutowicz (; 29 March 1865 – 16 December 1922) was a Polish people, Polish professor of hydroelectric engineering and politician who served as the first president of Poland from 11 December 1922 until Assassination of Gabriel Na ...

, President of Poland * Stanisław Narutowicz, Signatory of the Act of Independence of Lithuania *

Issai Schur Issai Schur (10 January 1875 – 10 January 1941) was a Russian mathematician who worked in Germany for most of his life. He studied at the Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Berlin. He obtained his doctorate in 1901, became lecturer i ...

, Jewish mathematician * Salomėja Stakauskaitė, one of the first group of women parliamentarians in Lithuania * Konstanty Skirmunt, Polish diplomat and Minister of Foreign Affairs * Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of Lithuania * Juozas Tūbelis, Prime Minister of Lithuania * Antanas Vienuolis, Lithuanian writer *

Max Weinreich Max Weinreich ( ''Maks Vaynraych''; , ''Meyer Lazarevich Vaynraykh''; 22 April 1894 – 29 January 1969) was a Russian- American-Jewish linguist, specializing in sociolinguistics and Yiddish, and the father of the linguist Uriel Weinreich, who ...

, Jewish linguist

References

Liepāja Schools in Latvia Educational institutions established in 1865 1865 establishments in the Russian Empire Educational institutions disestablished in 1915 {{Latvia-school-stub