Gymnasium Erasmianum
| Gymnasium Erasmianum | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | |
| Rotterdam, Netherlands | |
| Coordinates | 51°54′44″N 4°28′07″E / 51.912085°N 4.468689°ECoordinates: 51°54′44″N 4°28′07″E / 51.912085°N 4.468689°E |
| Information | |
| Established | 1328 |
| Principal | Jacques van Hoof |
| Website | www |
The Gymnasium Erasmianum is a school in Rotterdam (also known under its Dutch name "Erasmiaans Gymnasium").
Founded in 1328, it is the second oldest school in the Netherlands with recorded date of establishment (after the Johan de Witt-gymnasium in Dordrecht, established 1253). The privilege to found a Latin school was granted to the town of Rotterdam before Rotterdam received full city rights and therefore the school predates the birth of the city itself by nearly twenty years. It was renamed in 1842, after the famous Rotterdam theologian and humanist Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536). The school is more than a century older than its namesake, and it is unclear whether he attended it.
The school was located at the corner of the Coolsingel and the Laurensstraat until 1937, nowadays C&A, a clothing store, is located at that place, and the school at the Wytemaweg. In May 1940, Rotterdam was heavily bombed by the German aggressor, but the school building survived miraculously. During the war, the occupying German troops used the building as one of their headquarters.
In the Netherlands, there are several levels of secondary education, the highest being the vwo, pre-university secondary education. In the past decades, many schools have merged with schools of higher or lower levels to form wide-scope community schools. Some gymnasiums, such as the Gymnasium Erasmianum are among the few remaining high-level-only schools, and has managed to avoid merging because of its high number of students. Another special property of Gymnasia is that they offer compulsory classes in the ancient languages Latin and Ancient Greek.
The school is widely known for its large number of students with non-Dutch roots. There are more students with non-Dutch roots at the Gymnasium Erasmianum than at any other Gymnasium in the Netherlands.
The school serves 1,170 students and 80 teachers. The school's motto is "Ex Pluribus Unum", meaning "unity through diversity".
The RGB (Rotterdamse Gymnasiasten Bond) is the school's society, organized by the students for the students. Every year the RGB organizes parties, theater, music and dance evenings and several cultural events.
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Wikipedia