Modest in architectural expression, the one-storey buildings of the patronage gymnasiums (secondary schools for students preparing to enter a university) bear testimony to the resilient efforts made to raise the education level of the Slovak people. Their foundation followed the call to use the Slovak language in schools, a demand included in the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation of June 1861. The schools were set up thanks to the initiative of the Memorandum of Š M Daxner. He found support first in Revúca, where, in 1862, the Evangelical church self-administration certified the foundation of the first Slovak gymnasium. In the Martin-based patronage gymnasium teaching commenced on 1 September 1867. The third gymnasium at Kláštor pod Znievom, under the patronage of the Catholic church, was launched in 1869. After a brief but intense period of being operational they were closed for being unpatriotic by the government in 1874-1875.
First Slovak Secondary School, Revúca
First Slovak Secondary School, Martin
First Slovak Secondary School, Kláštor pod Znievom
Heritage > National cultural monuments
