Gymnasium Kirchenfeld

In Bern, the Hohe Schule was founded in 1528 as a theological educational institution and converted into an academy in 1804. With the founding of the University of Bern in 1834, which emerged from the academy, the Literarschule was established, which was called the Kantonsschule Bern from 1856 to 1880. It was then merged with the Städtische Realschule (municipal secondary school) to form the Städtisches Gymnasium (municipal grammar school). Until 1885, it was located at Herrengasse 25, then at Waisenhausplatz 30 (see also Progr). In 1926, the Gymnasium was relocated to the newly built school building in the Kirchenfeld district. The school building, constructed between 1923 and 1926 by the architectural firm Widmer (Fritz Widmer) & Daxelhoffer, is a neoclassical style building. The auditorium features five large murals of famous Bernese figures (Theodor Kocher, Ferdinand Hodler, Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg, Jeremias Gotthelf, and Jakob Stämpfli), painted in 1927/28 by Cuno Amiet, and in the central section of the third floor, Victor Surbek painted five murals in 1928 depicting the wanderings and return of Odysseus.[3]

Until 2005, the school building housed three different high schools, each with its own principal and administrative office. There was the MNG (Mathematics and Science High School), the LG (Literary High School), and the WG (Business High School). In 2005, the three high schools were merged, but retained their respective principals. The MNG became the MN (Mathematics and Natural Sciences) department, the LG became the GH (Humanities and Social Sciences) department, and the WG became the WR (Economics and Law) department.