This building is a living monument to the history of modern education in East Prussia and Warmia and Mazury. Today, it houses a Secondary School no. 1, which is the oldest school of the region in the post-war Poland. Till 1945, a city’s first boys middle school functioned here and in the 19th and 20th centuries it was an elite secondary school.

The school opened in Olsztyn in 1878 and initially it had a joint headquarters together with a folk school, which was located at today’s Pieniężnego street. The boys middle school lived to see its own seat in 1887. In addition to the main building of red brick, maintained in the spirit of the official Neo-Gothic style, a gymnasium and an exercise yard were built – preserved to this day.

The school was a classic middle school with the teaching of Greek and Latin. Its graduation entitled pupils to join higher education. The opening ceremony was graced by the school theater which performed an abbreviated version of “Iphigenia in Tauris” (“Ifigenia w Taurydzie”) by Goethe. In 1894, in the hall hung the picture of the same title, which was given by its author, Gaertner. The historical canva was shot through in several places during the last war.