The Wilhelmsgymnasium is a gymnasium (selective school) in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Founded in 1559 to educate local boys, it is now coeducational. Wilhelmsgymnasium is one of the few remaining gymnasiums in Bavaria to be a "pure ''Humanistisches Gymnasium''" (humanities gymnasium), meaning that it traditionally focuses on the

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

: all students are required to study

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 ...

, English, and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

, in addition to mainstream school subjects.

History

The Gymnasium was founded in 1559 by Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria as a "Paedagogium", but was renamed in 1849 after its probable sponsor, Duke Wilhelm V. By 1773, the Gymnasium was overseen by the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

s ("Jesuit Gymnasium"). The present building on Thierschstraße (corner of Maximilianstraße) was erected in 1879 in

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

style. In 1893 it was granted ''Seminarschule'' status, meaning that it accepted trainee teachers. Much of the school compound was destroyed during the Allied bombing of Munich in 1944 and eventually rebuilt over the years. Girls were admitted during the 1970s. Between 2015 and 2018 the school operated out of a temporary location while the historic building's interior was completely gutted and refurbished with modern facilities. It re-opened for the 2018–19 academic year.

Notable former pupils

* Johannes R. Becher * Count Otto von Bray-Steinburg *

Anton Diabelli Anton (or Antonio) Diabelli (5 September 17818 April 1858) was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote ...

Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Republic, Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. ...

* Franz Xaver Gabelsberger *

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...

* Philipp Loewenfeld *

Golo Mann Golo Mann (born Angelus Gottfried Thomas Mann; 27 March 1909 – 7 April 1994) was a popular German historian and essayist. After completing a doctorate in philosophy under Karl Jaspers at Heidelberg, in 1933 he fled Hitler's Germany. He followe ...

Klaus Mann Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann (18 November 1906 – 21 May 1949) was a German writer and dissident. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann (with whom he maintained a lifelong close relationship) and Go ...

* Max von Pettenkofer *

Richard Riemerschmid Richard Riemerschmid (20 June 1868 – 13 April 1957) was a German architect, painter, designer and city planner from Munich. He was a major figure in ''Jugendstil'', the German form of Art Nouveau, and a founder of architecture in the style. A ...

Carl Spitzweg Carl Spitzweg (February 5, 1808 – September 23, 1885) was a German romantic painter, especially of genre subjects. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era. Life and career Spitzweg was born in Mun ...

* Johann Georg SeidenbuschHans Pörnbacher, “Seidenbusch, Johann Georg” in ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' Vol. 24 (Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, 2010, , p. 178 (in German) *

Ludwig Thoma Ludwig Thoma (; 21 January 1867 in Oberammergau – 26 August 1921 in Tegernsee) was a German author, publisher and editor, who gained popularity through his partially exaggerated description of everyday Bavarian life. After graduation from t ...

* Gunnar B. Stickler * Hermann Stieve *

Konstantin Wecker Konstantin Alexander Wecker (born 1 June 1947) is a German ''Liedermacher'' (singer-songwriter) who also works as a composer, author and actor. Life and work Wecker was born in Munich. Classically educated at the Wilhelmsgymnasium, Wecker got o ...

Maximilian von Weichs Maximilian Maria Joseph Karl Gabriel Lamoral Reichsfreiherr von und zu Weichs an der Glonn (12 November 1881 – 27 September 1954) was a German ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field marshal) in the ''Wehrmacht'' of Nazi Germany during World War II. B ...

References

External links

Official Homepage of the Wilhelmsgymnasium

Research on the history of the Wilhelmsgymnasium München
by Peter Kefes Schools in Bavaria Education in Munich Educational institutions established in the 1550s 1559 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire {{Bavaria-struct-stub