The Professors’ Houses
Domki profesorskie
| The Professors’ Houses are among the few monuments of such age in the area that survived the destruction of Szczecin during World War II. And although the apartments are no longer assigned to teachers, the spirit of history still surrounds them. I encourage you to walk around the Houses, as the whole area is remarkably interesting. In the Middle Ages, the houses were inhabited by the canons of the chapter of Szczecin’s St Mary’s Church. On the side from which we came, the city wall once ran, and on the other side stood the collegiate church – today the building of the St Mary’s Grammar School occupies the site, but in the courtyard one can still see fragments of medieval walls and portals. St Mary’s Church was not only a sacred building but also a cultural and educational center, as it housed a library and a school. After the Reformation, the houses became home to the professors of the newly established Ducal Pedagogium. In line with the principle docta et eloquens pietas – “learned and eloquent piety” – the school educated future clergymen, officials, teachers, organists, apothecary assistants and physicians. The most important subjects included Latin, Greek, theology, dialectics and music. We can imagine that such highly specialized residents of the Professors’ Houses must have engaged in even longer and more passionate discussions at community meetings than the ones we witness today. During the Swedish period, the school was transformed into the Carolinum Gymnasium, and its curriculum expanded to include Hebrew, history, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, ethics, politics and physics. At the beginning of the Prussian period, the gymnasium declined significantly – sources mention a low level of teaching, a drop in the number of students and frequent brawls (worth noting is that until the mid-18th century students were allowed to carry swords). Half a century later, the St Mary’s Gymnasium was established, and today the teachers of the 9th High School still walk the same streets once frequented by students across several centuries of this place’s history. |