Collegium Nobilium (Warsaw)
The Collegium Nobilium was an elite boarding secondary school for sons of magnates and wealthy gentry (szlachta), founded in 1740 in Warsaw by Stanisław Konarski and run by Piarist monks. The school existed until 1832 and was one of the predecessors of Warsaw University. It was at first called Collegium Novum, but its name was changed in the autumn of 1741. It operated in a building on Warsaw's Dluga Street. Later, it was moved to the district of Zoliborz.
The target of the Collegium Nobilium was to educate future elites of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and to prepare them for reforms of the country (see also Great Sejm, Constitution of May 3, 1791). It had eight grades, but education lasted for eight years, as in grades II, IV, and V, the curriculum lasted two years. The school had a modern syllabus; it concentrated on natural sciences, mathematics, philosophy and modern languages, and with less pressure on the Latin and Greek languages. Stanislaw Konarski selected well-educated teachers, introducing courses in history, law, economics and sciences.
The campus of the Collegium Nobilium was almost completely destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising. It was rebuilt after the war, together with its classicistic facade.