The Kočevje Grammar School

In 1867, K.J. Schroer, PhD, a visiting professor as a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna first proposed the idea of establishing a grammar school in Kočevje. During his visit, he taught people about the importance of secondary education and the improvement of primary school curriculum. Some fellows of the society were quite impressed and so was formed the Pedagogy and Theological Faculty for Advanced Studies. Meanwhile they started building the grammar school, but they did not manage to complete it by the beginning of the school year. Thus, the first grammar school lectures were held in the house of the Mayor Jože Braun.

Benedikt Knapp became the first headmaster of the Kočevje Grammar School on 24 October 1872. He was a former professor at the Ljubljana Grammar School. He started work started immediately with 19 enrolled students.

In 1919, an extension to the building was built and the school was named the “Slovenian Grammar School”, where after the fall of the Hapsburg Monarchy Slovenian language was used. The school was well organized but in 1940 got into trouble because of declining enrolment. During World War II the building was partially demolished and used as a hospital for the wounded. A few years after the war, the school started to function in the building once again. The building was divided into two parts. Grammar school was located in the upper part and a vocational school in the lower part. In 1980 both programmes moved into the building on the Trg zbora odposlancev Square. In the years 1980 – 1995 a music school with Kočevje brass band and various dance groups were located on the site of the old grammar school. In 1995, the building was evacuated, and the renovation of the building began in 2000.