Tour & History

The history of secondary school education in Görlitz is inextricably linked to the history of our house.
In the will of the widowed provincial elder Christiane Luise von Gersdorff, née Hohberg, there is a passage with which the history of secondary education for girls in our town begins.

This laid the most important foundation stone.

In October 1779, there was a "draft for the establishment of a women's school" and by Easter 1781, the "Gersdorffsche Frauenzimmer-Institut" (later "Gersdorffsche Mädchen-Erziehungsanstalt", named after the founder Christiane Luise von Gersdorff) opened its doors. Due to the circumstances and difficulties of the time, the development of the institution was accompanied by closures and reopenings. The girls' school as a whole had switched to a nine-grade course in 1875 and in this respect had caught up with the boys' secondary schools.

At Easter 1882, the school was relocated to Wilhelmsplatz 5, the former trade school, as the old buildings were inadequate due to the increase in the number of female pupils (over 300).

In 1897, the gas flames were fitted with incandescent burners, the courtyard was given a granite base and gravel backfill and was also used as a tennis court. In 1906, following the demolition of an extension, a hall building was erected for an assembly hall and a gymnasium. The building was one of the first in Görlitz to be given a colorful coat of paint, the dark corridors were made a little friendlier, the gas lighting in the individual rooms was gradually replaced by electric light and the old school desks were replaced by new desks and chairs.

Since the anniversary of the seminary in 1911, the school has borne the name of its founder - Luisenschule. (since 1912 Oberlyzeum)

A major structural change took place in May 1927 when the school was extended and the courtyard and main building were connected by a bridge. This conversion, which also included central heating, was inaugurated in October 1927. The entire school was now housed in one building complex. In August 1928, the murals by the well-known artist and drawing teacher of the school, teacher Otto Engelhardt-Kyffhäuser, were unveiled in the assembly hall. On the anniversary day in 1929, the inauguration of the organ completed the decoration of this room.

After 1933, the Luisenschule remained one of the three secondary schools in Görlitz as a "German secondary school".

During the turmoil of war, the Kyffhäuser paintings were removed in the last two years and their whereabouts are still unknown. The stalls in theassembly hall and the organ were also removed in 1945. During this time, the building was also used as a military hospital.

After the Second World War, a new school law determined further developments. The Luisenschule (for girls), named "Luise-Otto-Peters-Schule " in 1948 after the pioneer of equal rights for women, merged with the Lessing-Oberschule (for boys) in 1950 to form a single school, which was located in the building of the former girls' secondary school.

In1959, in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act, it was given the name "Extended Secondary School" and in the summer of the same year the name of the physicist and peace fighter "Frédéric Joliot-Curie School". His son Piere attended our school in 2004.

The Joliot-Curie-Gymnasium has been located on Wilhelmsplatz since 1992. The building has been gradually renovated since 1998. Initially, new windows were installed and the façade was redesigned, followed by the renovation of the interior from 2012 to 2014 with the installation of modern specialist rooms and a canteen in the former hall building.