The Casimirianum, known to the students as the "Casi", is a Gymnasium in Coburg, Bavaria. It was founded in 1605 by Johann Casimir, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg (15641633), and named after him. Today the Casimirianum is a linguistic and humanistic high school with the curriculum including Latin from 5th Grade, English from 6th Grade, and Italian, Greek, French or Spanish as the third compulsory foreign language. With the school year of 2009–10, the program was expanded with a scientific-technological branch with Latin as a second language. The Casimirianum was once involved with a German pilot program, "The European Gymnasium" and was one of 44 Model Schools of "MODUS21", but both programs were closed by 2009.
History
The Casimirianum is a Renaissance building designed and built by Peter Sengelaub. On 2 September 1601, the foundation stone was laid by Duke Johann Casimir and he returned on 3 July 1605 the inauguration. According to the foundation charter, the Duke intended this state school to be ein medium oder Mittel (German, "a medium or middle") between a Trivialschule (an elementary school) and a high school or academy. The lectures were to be public et gratis (Latin, "free to the public"). A Convictorium (Latin, "boarding school") was established "with two tables, of twenty-four boys, one table free, and the other, for a weekly fee of 7 groschen by any person" The Duke understood "how sometimes . . . poor people's children, who are naturally good and capable of intelligence, and the same to seek and learn, are also eager to be educated, are often overlooked, ignored and neglected; that we would not like to hear or be heard in the least..."
From the Bewiddungsbrief (Letter of Evaluation) of Duke Johann Casimir, the Foundation Charter of the Casimirianum, dated 3 July 1605: "Undoubtedly, in the view of these regulations and foundation of our school, the praeceptores [Latin, "teachers"] held truly and abundantly, and the public lectures multiplied. Also the beneficium communis mensæ [Latin, "common good of the table"] must be properly conducted; it will follow and further such Christian work, to honor God, to edify Christendom, and to maintain our lands, with the time of good-hearted people and foremost our descendants, that it achieves the original goals intentionally."
On 11 November 1677 Emperor Leopold I granted the Imperial privilege to establish a new university in Coburg. In 1705, on the occasion of the centennial of the school, the University of Coburg was proclaimed. But, in 1723, it was abandoned because of the infighting among the seven participating Ernestine princes and of the lack of funding. So were the efforts of a joint committee for a second university for Jena. The Casimirianum Gymnasium has continued to use the original building, built in 1607.
Architecture
Across the street from the Morizkirche (St. Maurice's Church), on the corner lot at Neugasse, Ratskornhaus, built in 1496, stood until 1601. Then Duke Johann Casimir had it razed and rebuilt. On this spot, in 1605, Nikolaus Bergner and Peter Sengelaub created a Hohe Schule mit Convictorium (high school with a dormitory). For Bergner, it was the second of his three buildings in Coburg. The construction of the government offices at Stadthaus and Rathaus on Marktplatz in the center of Coburg had just been finished, and it would be followed by the Zeughaus, now the State Archives of Coburg.