J. K. Tyl Gymnasium (high school) with commemorative plaque to Cyprián Lvovický

The memorial plaque of Cyprián Lvovický of Lvovice, a prominent Hradec native, is mounted on the building of the J. K. Tyl Gymnasium of which he was a graduate. The grammar school continues the famous history of the Latin school in Hradec dating back to the 14th century.

The Hradec Grammar School is famous for its history and for the countless personalities of renown who have passed through its education. The oldest pedagogical tradition dates back to the 14th century, when a Latin school was founded here at the instigation of Charles IV. Charles IV founded Latin schools in the royal towns to prepare students for study at Charles University. The first mention of Hradec Králové's Latin school, so called grammar school, dates back to 1362. One of the first important graduates of this school was the astronomer and physician Master Iohannes Andreae (1370─1443), alias Master Schindel, who became famous as the author of astronomical treatises and whose work was followed even by the famous Tycho de Brahe. Master Schindel is also considered to be one of the main authors of the Prague astronomical clock on the Old Town Square. The local school experienced its greatest development in the 16th century, when the famous astronomer Cyprian Karásek of Lvovice (1514─1574) studied here. This Hradec Králové native came from the family of councillor and mayor Jan Karásek and as a pupil gifted in natural sciences he entered the local grammar school, after which he went on to study astronomy in Wroclaw, Leipzig and Wittenberg. He became professor of astronomy in Lauigen, Bavaria. He was primarily concerned with his calculations of solar eclipses and the determination of the course of the sun's orbit. He was a personal friend of Tycho de Brahe and because of his scientific reputation was appointed personal astrologer to Emperor Maximilian II for. However, Cyprián Lvovický's original alma mater was hit hard by the Thirty Years' War and never returned to its previous tradition. First a Jesuit gymnasium and later the Austrian State Gymnasium were established in its place. The school commemorates its glorious past and the person of Cyprián Lovický with a bronze commemorative plaque at the entrance created by the sculptor František Pavlů and mounted in 1986.

CHOLASTA, M.: Latinské školy v Hradci Králové. In: NĚMEČEK, J.; ŠŮLA, J. (ed.): Příspěvky k dějinám královéhradeckého školství. Sborník referátů z konference konané u příležitosti 10. výročí založení biskupského gymnázia v Hradci Králové. Hradec Králové 2003, s. 4─36.

 

 

HADRAVOVÁ, A., HADRAVA, P. Astronomie v rudolfínské Praze. In: HADRAVA, P.; KARLICKÝ, M.; PALOUŠ, J.; ŠOLC, M. (ed.): Ondřejovská hvězdárna 1898─1998. Sborník o české a moravské astronomii uspořádaný ke 100. výročí Ondřejovské hvězdárny a 650. výročí University Karlovy. Praha 1998, s. 23─32.

(Author: Petr Hampl)