Jean Sturm gymnasium

In 1538,  this High school was established in a former Dominican monastery by Jean Sturm, then in charge of the education policy in Strasbourg.

  • Gymnase Jean Sturm
    The gymnasium John Sturm © Archives/Ville de Strasbourg

The humanitarian Jean Sturm was headmaster until 1581. Martin Bucer, Jean Calvin, Wolfang Capiton and Caspar Hédion taught there.

The gymnasium was marked by humanism and the Protestant faith. It was a Latin secondary school and a primary school where rhetoric, knowledge and divinity were taught.

In 1566, it became the first academy to award university degrees, and then in 1621 a became a university comprising of four faculties awarding doctorates.

 

Associated tours

  • Protestant Strasbourg
    A walk with photos, texts and maps to better guide your route. A tour realized in collaboration with Strasbourg eurométropole and l’Union des Églises protestantes d’Alsace et de Lorraine. From...

Associated notes

  • Martin Bucer (1491-1551)
    He was born in Alsace, was a humanist and tried all his life long to safeguard the unity of the Church.

  • Wolfgang Capiton (1478-1541)
    Wolfgang Capiton, an Alsatian theologian and reformer, took part in introducing the Reformation in Strasbourg.

  • Jean Calvin (1509-1564)
    A generation after Luther, the Frenchman Jean Calvin became the organiser of the Reformation : he organised the Church, shaped the doctrine and defined the role of the Church in state government.

  • Jacques Sturm (1489-1553)
    Jacques Sturm was a major figure of the Protestant Reformation in Strasbourg. He was open to new religious trends, and adopted Luther’s message, thus imposing on the city an authoritarian...

  • Johannes Sturm (1507-1589)
    Jean Sturm was a great protestant humanist, but he will be especially remembered as having been an outstanding headmaster of the “Gymnase” or secondary school in Strasbourg. He was also...