The first men's gymnasium

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Description

    The First Men's Gymnasium (now Scientific Lyceum No. 3) has a long history, it is one of the first educational institutions in Poltava. The institution was founded in 1808 and was initially housed in a wooden building on Petrovska Square, which belonged to the famous Poltava philanthropist Pavlo Rudenko. The trustee of the gymnasium was Viktor Kochubei, who gave her a mineralogical cabinet (1789 storage units) and presented a collection of minerals (613 units). Initially, 49 students studied at the institution.
    In 1823, the Malorossiskyi post office was transferred to Chernihiv, and its building on the Round Square was transferred to the gymnasium. Classrooms were located in the building itself, and a boarding house for the children of impoverished nobles was located in the outbuildings, where Ivan Kotliarevskyi was the chief for a long time. The First Men' Gymnasium existed in this building until 1861. In 1825, patrons donated a library to the institution, and the gymnasium also received the personal library of the poet and famous translator Mykola Hnidych. At that time, the educational institution graduated 30 students each year. Since the gymnasium did not have an assembly hall, all celebrations at the end of the school year also took place in the Hall of the Noble Assembly.
     During 1844-1850, the famous Ukrainian researcher-archaeologist of Ukrainian-German origin Olexandr Pol (1832-1890) studied at the gymnasium. At the same time, he studied with him the classic of Ukrainian literature, the poet Leonid Hlibov (1827-1893). At that time, the famous Ukrainian romantic poet Levko Borovykovskyi, the first biographer of Ivan Kotliarevskyi, Ukrainian public and cultural figure Stepan Steblin-Kaminskyi, historian and ethnographer Pavlo Bodianskyi, artist Fedot Tkachenko taught at the gymnasium at that time. In 1846, Ukrainian writer Yevhen Hrebinka visited the First Poltava Men' Gymnasium, who expressed his impressions of his stay in the city in the work "Poltava Evenings".
     A new, larger and more spacious building specially for the gymnasium was built in 1861 next to Posthamtska Street (now Viacheslava Chornovola Street). The author of the original project is unknown. The design of the building in stylistic forms is made close to classical ones.
    In 1864, the number of students at the gymnasium reached 470 people, 29 teachers worked, among whom, in addition to those mentioned, there are a number of outstanding names: translator A.Stronin, Ukrainian and Czech composer Aloiz Jedlichka, pianist A. Iliashenko and others. The First Men's Gymnasium was also famous for its graduates, including: historian and writer M. Drahomanov, writer and theater actor M.Starytskyi, mathematician M.Ostrogradskyi, poet V. Kulyk, ethnographer and art critic V.Horlenko, poet V.Samiilenko, sculptor and itinerant artist L. Posen, physicist M. Pilchikov, Patriarch of the UAOC Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) and others.
    In 1897, a boarding house for 40 pupils was opened at the gymnasium on the Katerynska street (now Raisy Kyrychenko Street), the houses were built exclusively with the funds of the provincial zemstvo.
    The classic of Ukrainian literature Panas Myrnyi (Panas Rudchenko), the father of three sons who studied at Gymnasium 3 from 1901 to 1917, worked as a treasurer in the association for helping poor students of the gymnasium. In 1909, Panas Myrnyi organized a literary morning at the educational institution dedicated to Taras Shevchenko. During 1915-1917, students of the gymnasium published the literary magazine "Slovo".
    After the events of the 1917 revolution, secondary school No. 3 for working youth began to operate in the gymnasium building. The building has undergone partial reconstruction (replanning) in one of the buildings, which used to house rooms for students and teachers.
     During the II World War from September 1941 until September 1943, the building of school No. 3 was significantly damaged, like almost all buildings in the central part of the city. In the post-war years, a group of Poltava architects, led by the chief architect of the city Lev Vainhort, carried out extensive work on the reconstruction of the building.
     During 1948-1949, the building of the Former Men's Gymnasium was renovated and the music and drama theater named after Mykola Gogol, who worked in this room until 1958. Since 1950, part of the premises was occupied by school No. 3, and only after the theater moved to a newly constructed building on Theater Square, the entire building with the adjacent territory became the property of the school.
     In 2019, Poltava Specialized School of I-III degrees No. 3 received the status of Scientific Lyceum No. 3 of the Poltava City Council.
    Today Scientific Lyceum No. 3 remains one of the best educational institutions in the city, with about 700 students in 22 classes. There are 41 teachers, social pedagogues, practical psychologists, 14 teachers have the title of "methodist teacher" and 8 teachers have the title of "senior teacher". One teacher has the title "Honored Education Worker of Ukraine".
   

Speciality

 The building of the former First Boys' Gymnasium has been a historical and architectural monument of local importance since 2017, security number 4755-Pl.