The second stop of the historical route is the Protestant Lycée building, located in the immediate vicinty of the Protestant wooden articular church. The firts reports of the existence of urban schools are from 1383 – 1392. However, it is assumed that the first type of school – parish school – had existed a century earlier.
After 1531 with the advent of reforms in Kezmarok, the school became a Protestant Grammar school. In 1787 – 1852, academic classes with the Departments of Philosophy, Law and Theology were created along the Grammar school, thanks to which the school became a lycée. There were only four lycées in Slovakia – it was not possible to go onto university studies without having attended one of them. In 1852, the lycée classes were canceled and the school became a grammar school once again.
The first school building stood near the Basilica of St. Cross. At the time of the anti-reformation the school was relocated outside the city walls. The sacristy of the wooden church was used as a school building for a period of time and in 1774 – 1776 a stone building was built. The building got the current look in 19th century with the extensions of the first and second floors. Teachers and studnets from all over Central Europe studied and worked in Kezmarok – many of them have became important Slovak, German, Hungarian and Serbian artists, scientists and politicians. Among the most famous were: Jur Tesák Mošovský, František Kacinczy, Pavel Jozef Safarik, Karol Kuzmany, brothers Jan a Samo Chalupka, Samo Tomasik, Janko Kral, Jan Generisch, Jovan Sterija – Popovic, Jonas Zaborsky, Pavol Orsagh Hviezdoslav, Ladislav Nadasi – Jege, Martin Kukucin, Janko Jesensky, Martin Razus, Ivan Stodola, painters Peter Bohun, Ladislav Mednansky, politicians Imrich Thököly, Artur Görgey, Matus Dula, doctors Daniel Fischer, Ludovit Markusovsky, Vojtech Alexander, geographers and historians David Frölich, Juraj Bohus, Juraj Buchholtz younger, Kristian Genersich, brothers Pavol a Jan Hunfalvy, Tomas Mauksch, Samuel Weber, philosophers and economists Gregor Berzeviczy, Ján Fejes, Martin Schwartner, scientists, physicists and mathematicians Fridrich Hazlinský, Jur Hronec etc.
The Lycée buildings is located in the library – the largest school historical library in Central Europe which began to be developed concurrently with the school. There are over 150 000 volumes of all possible disciplines and langugaes.
Audio commentary on the Protestant Lycée:
Audio commentary: https://www.kezmarok.sk
