145 years ago on 1 Nov. 1879 the Maiden High School in Tarnovo was founded, with Metropolitan Clement as its first director. The opening of the gymnasium in the old capital was no accident. During the Renaissance and after the Liberation, Tarnovo was the political and cultural centre of Bulgaria. The class school for girls in the town also enjoyed great renown. With its solid facilities and good training of its graduates, the Tarnovo Class School for Girls attracts students from all over Northern Bulgaria. Tarnovo Girls' High School became a direct successor and continuator of the Class Girls' School.
Thanks to its erudite and strict teachers, the Maiden's High School ranks among the elite educational institutions in the country. Raina Futekova (Raina Knyaginya), Dr. Zoya Stavreva, and many other teachers educated in the most prestigious European universities taught there.
In the first years of its establishment, the school was housed in the convent of Etem Bey, a prominent Turkish commander. From September 1, 1885, students and teachers moved to a newly built building (today it houses the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of St. Petersburg. Cyril and Methodius). In addition to this building, a separate building was made available to the school management. Classrooms for physics, geography, chemistry, etc. have been set up.
It is interesting to know that in 1882-1883 the headmaster of the elite school Nikola Benderev for the first time in Bulgaria introduced uniform clothing - monochrome dresses to which the girls had to wear white aprons.
From 1901 the Higher Academic Council decided to allow girls who had graduated from high school to study at the Higher School in Sofia, and on 7 May 1902 the high school was named "Metropolitan Clement", after its first headmaster, because of his great services to the school.
In 1904 a new law on education was issued, according to which the programmes of male and female schools and gymnasiums were equalized.
The Tarnovo State Girls' High School is one of the oldest and most well-established educational institutions, enjoying a good reputation in the region and the country. Its graduates ignited the spark of enlightenment in other districts of tsarist Bulgaria. Not a few of them studied and graduated in higher education abroad and in Bulgaria.
Literature used:
Kuteva, Venka. Opening and Development of the Turnov Girls' High School in the Period 1879-1904. // Pedagogical Almanac, 1996, №1-2, pp. 97-106.
Tarnovo Girls' High School : An upcoming jubilee in V. Tarnovo 1885-1935. // Yantra (V. Tarnovo), No. 4, 17 March 1935, p. 3.
Nedeva, Todorka. The maiden high school (Old Tarnovo pages from the past). // Borba (V. Tarnovo), № 95, 20 May 2013, p. 8 : with il.
