Education in Slutsk: reputation and prestige

Perhaps only one city is able to compete with Polotsk for the title of the cradle of the cultural and spiritual heritage of Belarus — and this  is not Minsk, and not even Novogrudok.

Slutsk, according to all these confusing written sources, is slightly younger than Polotsk, but it is not inferior to its northern counterpart neither in terms of strategic importance, nor in the frequency of mentioning in big events of ‘long gone years’. The starting point in a certain sense of the cultural revolution in the Slutsk principality can be considered the reign of the Olelkovich princely family, the last of which, Prince Yuri, personally copied the Gospel, which is better known as the Slutsk Gospel. Around the same time, the Slutsk Chronicle was created — a monument of the Belarusian-Lithuanian biography of the 16th century. However, talented young people left to get an education in European universities even before that time. Thus, there were rich book collections in the city, schools were opened at monasteries, churches and the princely court.

Shirokaya Street and male gymnasium (early 20th century)

‘Slutsk Athens’

In 1617, Janusz Radziwill built an Evangelical Church in Slutsk, at which an educational institution was opened from the moment of its foundation. However, this is the oldest school in Belarus at the moment (now it houses gymnasium No. 1) — it is already over 405 years old.
The Slutsk school has a rich and very interesting history. Some time after its foundation, the educational institution gained a serious reputation, became famous and popular not only in the Grand Duchy, but also abroad.

It was called ‘Slutsk Athens’ and ‘Exemplary Slutsk Gymnasium’ for the quality of teaching and the high level of knowledge of graduates.

Such well-known teachers at that time as Andrey Dobransky, Reinhold Adam, Andrey Musoniy taught here — each of them was a respected specialist who worked according to very high European educational standards (the great Mikhail Lomonosov, by the way, studied rhetoric from a textbook written by Reinhold Adam).
A huge role in shaping the solid reputation of the gymnasium was also played by the printing house operating under it, which was opened in 1672 on the initiative of Prince Boguslaw Radziwill and with the direct participation of the governor of the Slutsk and Kopyl principalities, Kazimir Klokotsky. The printing house printed fiction books, literature on military issues, translations from French and German, memoirs, calendars and travel notes. However, the most famous and popular publication at that time was the Alphabet Book manual on the Belarusian language, published in 3389 copies. 

The gymnasium gave a start in life to many Belarusians who glorified the country abroad. Ilya Kopievich studied here — a well-known educator, writer, book publisher, scientist and inventor. He was personally acquainted with Peter the Great. Furthermore, he was a man whose knowledge was highly appreciated by Gottfried Leibniz. 

 Among the graduates of the gymnasium are also Edward Woynillowicz, a well-known politician, whose genius was appreciated by the reformer Pyotr Stolypin, who offered him the position of Deputy Prime Minister in his government, Anton Krasovsky, an outstanding physician, obstetrician of the imperial family, Vitold Tserasky, a great astronomer, director of the observatory of Moscow University, writers Algerd Obukhovich and Anthony Petkevich (Adam Plug), People’s Commissar for Labour in the first composition of the government of the BSSR Joseph (Yazep) Dylo, academician of landscape painting of the Imperial Academy of Arts Kandrat Korsalin, lawyer who defended Yakub Kolas in court in 1908, Kazimir Petrusevich and many others.
In the 30s of the 19th century, the building of the educational institution was reconstructed, and in 1868 the gymnasium received the status of a male gymnasium. 

Both letter and spirit

In the first half of the 19th century, women’s education was carried out by the nuns of the Eliinsky Convent, but it soon became clear that a more serious approach was required, and a private women’s boarding school appeared in Slutsk, and then a state female gymnasium in 1912. In it, young ladies received basic knowledge of Russian, German and French, mathematics, calligraphy, the basics of pedagogy, music, gymnastics and the Law of God. Among the teachers, by the way, were graduates of St. Petersburg University, the Minsk Theological Seminary and a number of other serious educational institutions.
The main hall of the gymnasium (early 20th century)

In the late 20s of the 19th century, there was a theological school for the education of children of church ministers at the Transfiguration Monastery, later transformed into the ‘Slutsk Theological Seminary’. At the same time in Slutsk, spiritual education was taught in three more institutions with a common material and technical base — in the Minsk Theological Seminary and the parish and district schools subordinate to it. In 1840, the theological seminary moved to Minsk, and the schools were united and received a permanent residence permit under one roof in the suburbs of Troychany (now it houses the Slutsk Medical College). Among the graduates of the united three-year theological school are the writer Yanka Skrigan, the diplomat and the first Russian consul in Japan Iosif Gashkevich, the composer and ethnographer Vladimir Teravsky.   
Another landmark educational institution for the city was the private commercial school of M. M. Kiriakov, built in 1910-1912, the most active part in the construction of which was taken by the already mentioned Edward Woynillowicz. 

The creation of a new type of educational institution was dictated by urgent expediency — the Russian Empire needed personnel who understood the laws of the economy well.

Boys from the age of 12 were accepted for study — the children of the Slutsk townspeople, officials and even nobles. Education was paid. However, very little time was allotted to the school, and the building itself, which was the pride of the city, was burned by Polish troops during their retreat in 1920. During the years of Soviet power, it was restored, then destroyed again during the Great Patriotic War, and one can see what the original educational building was like only in photographs from the beginning of the 20th century.
But the glorious traditions of quality education, founded more than 400 years ago, are respected in Slutsk, honoured and continue to develop.

By Vladimir Likhodedov
Photos from the personal collection of Vladimir Likhodedov