Principal Premonstratensian Grammar School of Košice

Collection

Scope and content:: The documents of the fonds cover a relatively long period of time, making it possible to examine changes in the public administration in the 19th century. The principal grammar school of the Premonstratensians was one of the most attended schools. In some periods, it was the only grammar school in the city. The fonds includes minutes of staff meetings, class registers, registers of school leaving examinations and graduates, registers of marks, student reports, scholarship reports, and school reports. As the school was attended by Jewish students, too, information on them can be found in the documents. For example, in the 1848/1849 class catalog of the second year of the grammar school there is the name of Leopold Horovitz (1838-1917), a prominent painter and portraitist of Jewish origin. In the files included in the finding aid, the earliest record of Jewish students has been preserved from 1824/1825. This is the information that they can take exams in Jewish religion. The fonds also includes reports of the clergymen visiting worships of Protestant and Jewish pupils from 1827/1828, the register of Jewish pupils from 1843/1844, the list of Jews from 1851/1852, the religion school reports of Jewish pupils from 1850/1851, and warnings addressed to professors against antisemitic statements from the school year of 1883/1884. It is possible that other files not mentioned in the finding aid have been preserved in the fonds.

Archival history:: The documents of the fonds had already been organised several times before being included in the archives. They remained in their original place even after the school had ceased to exist. They were administered by its successors until being transferred to the archives. The State Archives in Košice took over the bulk of the fonds in 1957 from the Eleven-Year High School in Košice. A smaller number of the documents was received by the Archives in 1962 from the then State East Slovak Museum in Košice, as part of the estate of the last director of the Principal Premonstratensian Grammar School, Adorjan Szabó. The fonds was organizsd and made available in 1962. At present, a new finding aid is being created.

Administrative/biographical history:: The predecessor of the Premonstratensian Grammar School in Košice was the university and the grammar school established by the Jesuits in Košice. Their founding was approved by Leopold I in 1660. The university had two faculties, theological and philosophical, as well as the grammar school. The Jesuits were at Kośice University until 1773. Under the 1777 reform, the grammar school of the university became an independent institution under the name of the Royal Principal Grammar School. The Premonstratensians took over the grammar school in the school year of 1811/1812 and gradually began to replace non-clerical staff. The directors and teachers were appointed by the provost from Jasov. Until 1850/1851 the grammar school usually lasted for six years. In that year, it became an eight-year institution and school leaving examinations were introduced. In 1853/54-1860/61, the grammar school was taken from the Premonstratensians and handed over to the secular authorities. The school ceased to exist after the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, its successor being the Czechoslovak State Grammar School.

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Art; Art--Artists; Education; Education--Schools and universities; Education--Students; Education--Teachers and professors; Personal records

System of arrangement:: The fonds contains 512 official books, 7 registry finding aids, 42 boxes of files and three packages of unprocessed files that are not included in the current finding aid. The current finding aid is divided into three periods. Inventory units are individual volumes of files or individual subject groups of files. As for the official books, one inventory unit is one volume.

Finding aids:: Andráši, Ladislav – Hammel, Viliam: Fondy stredných škôl (gymnázií) v Košiciach, I. zväzok. Združený inventár. Košice 1961, ev. č. 317.