THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL from the Middle Ages to today

The Gymnázium Andreja Kmeťa (the Andrej Kmeť Bilingual Grammar School) in Banská Štiavnica, known in the past by other names that have changed under different political regimes and rulers, has a long history that goes hand in hand with the history of education in the town and in today’s Slovak Republic.

Early written mentions of the town appear in the 13^th century, when Banská Štiavnica had already become a significant free royal town. At that time, the Dominican Order served in the town. It is highly probable, as was the case in other towns, that there was a monastic school at the monastery in Banská Štiavnica, situated near the Church of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary. After the monks abandoned the town, this school would have been taken over by the town magistrate. (There was also the pastor of the town, who provided education for the children of burghers and urban mine owners.) Historical documents relating to the municipal school date from the 14^th century.    

From the year 1536 the school operated under the administration of lay teachers for 42 years. Later, after the arrival of the Jesuits in 1649, the school developed a more systematic role in society. Gradually, the original three-year school programme turned into a three-grade and, later, a four-grade gymnasium (‘grammar school‘ in Latin).  The Jesuit Order was abolished in 1773, and the former Jesuit teachers had to become lay friars. According to an order of the Empress Maria Theresa, the gymnasium´s administration was given to the Piarists on the 11^th November 1776. At this time German replaced Latin as the principal  teaching language. In May 1806 the building of the gymnasium was damaged by fire, and lessons had to be cancelled for one year.

The 19^th century was characterized by the awakening and reawakening of various national consciousnesses in Central Europe, and conflict broke out openly in 1807 with the introduction of Hungarian as a teaching language in the schools. For a short time, as a result of this, Latin returned, but from the middle of the century, Hungarian was established as the principal teaching language and Latin became only a subsidiary special subject. Despite this, various famous Slovaks of the future in Banská Śtiavnica, such as Ondrej Radlinský, Martin Hattala, and Andrej Kmeť taught or studied at the school. Gradually, natural science subjects were introduced and higher grades were established. For this reason, a new, larger, building was necessary for the school. The old building, on the site of contemporary archaeological excavations of the medieval Dominican monastery, was in a state of decay, so the school moved to a new building nearby in 1914. During World War I, the school bore the cumbersome name The Imperial and Royal Hungarian-German Roman Catholic Piarist Grammar School.  

The modern gymnázium in Banská Štiavnica has its roots in Protestant education, too. During the 16^th century, an Evangelical municipal school and an Evangelical high school were both founded in Banská Štiavnica. The Religious Wars of the 17^th century caused the temporary closure of both schools, and conflicts with the Jesuits in the 18^th century downgraded the status of the one surviving school to that of lower gymnasium. It was, however, promoted to higher gymnasium after passing the Educational Act Ratio Educationis in 1777. In the year 1808 the school was proclaimed the District (regional) gymnasium with the support of the Mining District Chamber Office, and then the Evangelical Lyceum, it was moved to a new building in the upper part of Holy Trinity Square in 1830. Gradually, the school became an important centre of the Slovak National Awakening movement. Daniel Lichard, Ján Severíni, Martin Hamaliar, Štefan Boleman, Pavol Dobšinský, and Ján Brezník all taught here. Andrej Sládkovič and Kálmán Mikszáth studied here, too as did -  briefly and unsuccessfully - the Romantic Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi. In the second half of the 19^th century, the school was magyarized, and the Hungarian language, Hungarian national consciousness, and affiliation to Magyar ethnicity were introduced to all aspects of education. Step by step, In 1880, the preparatory higher classes for future teachers at the Evangelical Lyceum were founded. From 1908, the building continued to function as the Teachers´ Institute.

With the end of World War I and the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy Banská Štiavnica became part of the new Czechoslovak Republic. After the era of Magyarization, it was necessary to “reslovakize” the educational institutions. Thus, in March 1919, the Ministry of Education in Prague gave an order to close the Hungarian gymnászium and replace it with a Czechoslovak “real” gymnázium. The Evangelical Lyceum now became part of this school, too. The task of building a new Hungarian Piarist gymnászium was passed on by the last headmaster, Jozef Rauchbacher, to a new steward of the gymnázium,  Ladislav Seitl, on 7^th April 1919. The teachers and students were allowed to continue at the school on condition that they used only the Slovak language in lessons and swore an oath of loyalty to the Republic of Czechoslovakia.

 The new gymnázium was named after Andrej Kmeť, who had studied at the Piarist School in Banská Štiavnica during the years 1852 – 1858. The name of the new school, the 1^st Czechoslovak State Real Grammar School of Andrej Kmeť (1. československé štátne reálne gymnázium Andreja Kmeťa) and the coat-of-arms of the Czechoslovak Republic are still visible on the tower of the gymnázium´s old building. The school´s name represents the secular and Slovak character of the school, and the name of the archaeologist and botanist Andrej Kmeť indicates that the teaching aimed at achieving a harmony between the natural sciences and the humanities. As in other schools in Slovakia, after fifty years of Magyarization there was an acute shortage of Slovak teachers, so paradoxically the Slovak language had to be taught by Czech teachers. These teachers had to leave their homes and families, and for a small salary bonus they brought up the brand-new generation of Slovak students and future scholars. 

The Slovak actors Gustáv Valach and Július Pántik studied here until their leaving examination in 1940, shortly after the outbreak of World War II. During the period of the Slovak Fascist State, otherwise known as the First Slovak Republic, the Czech teachers were forced to leave the school, which changed its name to the State Real Slovak Grammar School (Štátne slovenské reálne gymnázium). The resistance against fascism was supported by Alžbeta Göllnerová-Gwerková, a teacher of Slovak language and the wife of local painter Edmund Gwerk. She took part in the illegal anti-fascist movement, and after the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) was suppressed she had to seek shelter at Lake Počúvadlo. After her whereabouts were given away to the Nazis in November 1944, she was imprisoned in Banská Bystrica and in December 1944 she was executed in Kremnička. The street in which our school is now situated was named after her.

The form of education was changed shortly after the war by the regulations of Czechoslovakia’s new socialist government. The four-grade gymnázium was at first transformed into an 11-grade high school, which was eventually modified into a12-grade secondary comprehensive school named Stredná všeobecnovzdelávacia škola, and later Gymnázium. In 1973 a new educational facility, the Preparatory School for Studies in Socialism Abroad (Prípravka pre štúdium v socialistickom zahraničí) was established at the school. In the fourth grade, and in this connection  classes were opened for students from all around Slovakia who were expected to continue their university studies in the countries of the then Eastern Bloc. Education was focused on the language of the target country as well as on the basis of students´ future academic specialization. Lecturers from the Soviet Union, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria were preparing students for studies in the fields  of international relations, journalism, medicine, technical and natural sciences at prestigious universities such as those in Halle or Moscow. Some of the alumni of this preparatory school, which is commonly referred to as “tuzex”, ended up as successful diplomats and highly ranked officers, among whom the most famous was Miroslav Lajčák, the one-time Deputy Prime Minister and minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic and the President of the UN General Assembly.

After the fall of socialism, the Velvet Revolution of 1989 brought more changes in education at the school. In the school year 1992/1993 the school´s classical form of study was extended by a new eight-year reálne gymnázium, which lasted until the school year 2010/2011. The  ‘Preparatory School for Studies in Socialism Abroad‘ was substituted by language preparation courses focusing on the English language and taught by American and British native teachers. The classes focused on the humanities, biology and economics. This was how the “tuzex” lasted until the dawn of the third millennium.

Meanwhile, the school had taken the Velvet Divorce with the Czech Republic of 1993 in its stride, modifying its syllabus accordingly from September of that year, like all Slovak secondary schools, in keeping with Slovakia’s new independent status within the European Union. On the 80^th anniversary of the foundation of the Czechoslovak real gymnázium the honorary name of Gymnázium Andreja Kmeťa was given back to the school. In 2011, a new bilingual form of study with a special focus on the English language was established, serving as a successor to the language gymnázium from the end of the 20^th century. Gymnázium Andreja Kmeťa in its current state offers two forms of study – a four-year Slovak section and a five-year bilingual English section with ten classes.