Zemun Gymnasium

The Zemun Gymnasium (Serbian: "Земунска гимназија / Zemunska gimnazija") is one of the most prominent gymnasiums in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade’s Zemun municipality. Founded in 1858, it is Serbia's third oldest gymnasium, after those in Sremski Karlovci (founded in 1791) and Novi Sad (founded in 1810).

History

The Gymnasium was founded on September 23 1858. It initially had only one grade and just 21 students. Zemun was then a part of the Austrian Empire that was to become Austria-Hungary, and the language of instruction was German. By 1872 the Gymnasium had four grades.

In 1883 it was decided that Serbian should be the language of instruction, and a year later, on the orders of the Government, girls were restricted to the first grade leading to the Gymnasium being solely for boys by 1887.

Due to the turbulent World War I events, the Gymnasium experienced a multitude of problems, and didn't start functioning normally again until 1925. At that time it was also, once again, open for girls.

Today's Gymnasium has existed since 1958, after a merger with two smaller mixed schools created in 1946 after the liberation of Serbia & Yugoslavia from the Nazis by the Communist Partisans and the Red Army. In 2008, the gymnasium will celebrate its 150th anniversary.

The building

The Gymnasium building is located in Zemun’s Town Park (Serbian Cyrillic: Градски парк), nestled between University of Belgrade's Faculty of Agriculture building and a primary school.

The present day building was built in 1879 in renaissance style by Nikola Kolar. By 1912 the initial building proved to have inadequate space for accommodating all the students so plans were set up to expand it. Expansion was finished in 1916. The added structure was intended to be in renaissance style too, but was, instead, built in post-secessionist style. Hence, the building is actually formed by two buildings with a completely enclosed interior court.

The building is under the State’s protection as a cultural monument.

The Zemun Gymnasium today

The Gymnasium has over 1,400 students in four grades. It has a teaching staff off around 80. It is known to have a very high academic standard, making it one of Belgrade’s most respected gymnasiums.

Notable alumni

*Sava Šumanović
*Momčilo Bajagić
*Predrag Koraksić Corax
*David Albahari
*Goran Paskaljevic

See also

*Zemun
*Gymnasium (school)
*IX-th Belgrade Gymnasium "Mihailo Petrović-Alas"

External links

* [http://www.zemunskagimnazija.edu.yu Zemunska gimnazija] - official site (in Serbian only)