Contemplate for a moment the enduring legacy etched into these neo-Renaissance walls. We are standing before the Staatliches Wilhelmsgymnasium. It is Munich’s oldest Gymnasium in Upper Bavaria.
Founded in 1559 by Duke Albrecht V, it started as a Paedagogium. The school was later renamed in 1849. It was named after Duke Wilhelm V.
Originally, the school resided in the Jesuit monastery. It was on Neuhauser Straße. In 1826, it moved to the Alten Hof. The university needed its space. It finally moved to Herzogspitalstraße 18 in 1830. It was a converted Baroque house.
The school needed more space. King Ludwig II financially supported a new building. Karl von Leimbach designed it. The new building was built from 1875 to 1877. It was erected in the Lehel district. The style reflected a Neo-Renaissance facade.
Leimbach wanted harmony between function and form. He believed schools needed “peace, space, air, light”. He avoided medieval styles. He chose Neo-Renaissance. King Ludwig II had different tastes than his father, Maximilian II.
The Wilhelmsgymnasium building has an L shape. It has a north-south wing. A west-east wing connects to the south. The building has a basement, ground floor, and three stories. Each floor has about ten classrooms. The south wing houses special rooms. There is a physics room on the ground floor. The library is on the first floor. The music hall is on the second. The art studio is on the third. The east wing holds the bicycle storage. There are two gyms, one on the ground floor and one on the second floor. The teacher’s lounge is also there. It includes administration offices.
Heavily damaged during World War II, the Wilhelmsgymnasium was rebuilt from 1952 to 1958. It was significantly altered. Girls have been admitted since the 1970s. The staircase was reconstructed in the late 1980s. It was done in its original form and colors. The courtyard was redesigned. A new common room for G8 students was created in 2006.
From 1799 to 1826, and again from 1877 to 1918, the Wilhelmsgymnasium served as a page school. It was for the House of Wittelsbach.
From 2015 to 2018, the building underwent extensive renovations. The facade and staircase remained. A sports hall was added under the courtyard. A new floor was added above the east wing. During construction, classes were held in containers. These were near the Chinese Tower in the English Garden.
The Wilhelmsgymnasium library is quite old. It dates back to the founding of the Jesuit college in 1559. Donations and acquisitions enriched it. It holds early printed works. It also has first editions of classic authors. The library has about 11,000 volumes.
The Wilhelmsgymnasium maintains a humanistic tradition. Latin is introduced in the fifth grade. English follows in the sixth. Greek is mandatory in the eighth. Italian and Polish are offered in the eleventh grade. These are optional.
Since 2015, the Wilhelmsgymnasium partners with the Klassik Stiftung Weimar. Students visit museums. They work with experts on literary topics. Since 2014, there is a partnership with the Dante Alighieri school in Rome.
Look closely at the statues inside. Twenty-one statues line a third-floor hallway. They are copies of figures from the Temple of Zeus in Olympia. The statues disappeared from storage in 1976. They resurfaced as a permanent loan to the school. Even the school’s entrance has a story. A gilded inscription reads “K. WILHELMS GYMNASIUM”. Students changed it during a prank. The “K” was once black but is now gold.
The Staatliches Wilhelmsgymnasium stands as a testament to Munich’s commitment to education. It embraces both tradition and progress. It is a place where young minds are shaped and prepared for the world.