Carolinum, Zürich

Carolinum
Carolinum and Grossmünster as seen from Grossmünsterplatz respectively Zwinglinplatz in Zürich
Former names	Prophezey; Schola Tigurina; Töchterschule; Ehemalige Mädchenschule am Grossmünster
Alternative names	Theologisches Seminar
General information
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
Location	Zürich, Switzerland
Address	Kirchgasse 9, CH-8001 Zürich
Coordinates	47°22′12″N 8°32′39.12″E / 47.37000°N 8.5442000°E / 47.37000; 8.5442000
Construction started	1843
Completed	1849
Owner	City of Zürich
Technical details
Floor count	3
Design and construction
Architect	Gustav Albert Wegmann

The Carolinum Zürich (sometimes Prophezei or Prophezey) is the predecessor educational institution of the theological faculty of the University of Zürich, established in 1525. As building, it is part of the former cloister of the Grossmünster Chorherrenstift in Zürich, Switzerland. Grossmünster and Carolinum (Ehemalige Mädchenschule am Grossmünster) are listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as a Class A object.

An institutionalized academic education in Zürich dates back to the medieval collegiate and city schools. In the late European Middle Ages, a Carolinum associated to the Grossmünster priory and its canons was mentioned. On occasion of the Reformation in Zürich, it even became an important rule for the training of prospective Protestant theologians. As other educational institutions, it is named after Charlemagne (Carol or Swiss-German Karl).

The reformer Huldrich Zwingli initiated the transformation of the former Latin school Prophezey or Prophezei (literally Prophecy) into a training center for reformed theologians, by a Zürich city's council mandate on 29 September 1523 AD; lessons started on 19 June 1525. The weekday lectures (Lezgen or Lectiones, literally: lessons) were free of charge for the interested people in urban and rural areas of the city republic of Zürich, by well-learned men. Heinrich Bullinger's Schola Tigurina may have influenced the education in many other institutions beginning in 1559. Bullinger's Schola Tigurina merged in the 18th century to the theological faculty and the upper secondary school in the then Carolinum been. The financing of the chairs respectively professorships was depending on the benefices of the secularized canons of the former Grossmünster priory. In addition to theological subjects and Classical languages, in 1541 the natural history department (Conrad Gessner) and in 1731 a political science chair (Johann Jakob Bodmer) was created, and in 1782 the surgical institute to train medical doctors.