There were twelve male gymnasiums in interwar Lviv, but the best was the Eighth King Casimir the Great State Gymnasium. The "eighth building" was the place of study for young people - as Szczepcio and Tońcio used to say on the popular Polish Radio Lviv programme, Wesoła Lwowska Fala - "of better company", i.e. the sons of Lviv's intelligentsia, senior officers and scientists. Zbigniew Herbert, among others, belonged to them. He included his memories of his grammar school years in the sketch "A Latin Lesson". Many of the graduates of "Ósma buda" formed the intellectual elite of the country after the Second World War.

The "Eighth House" in Lviv

The Kazimierz Wielki Gymnasium had a mathematical and natural sciences profile. Initially it was located in a building on Czarnieckiego Street (now Vynnychenka Street). In 1927 it was moved to a newly constructed building in Dwernickiego Street (now Swiencickiego Street) in Zofiówka. The project was designed by Czesław Thullie (1888-1976), Lviv architect and professor of decorative arts at the School of Arts and Crafts, designer of the Khodoriv Gymnasium, one of the public schools in Lviv, and tombstones in Lychakiv Cemetery, among others. Thullie was academically engaged in the history of architecture, and was the author of works on the monuments of Polish construction, as well as sketching views of Polish cities and monuments.

The gymnasium building as an example of inter-war trends

In architectural terms, the Lviv "Eight" building is a typical example of a 1920s gymnasium building. The eight-grade gymnasiums were usually sizable buildings, and in terms of form they belonged to the classicising trend, often simplified and devoid of decorative detail, but always monumental. A central risalit surmounted by a tympanum was a frequently introduced element. The functional programme included eight or more classrooms, depending on the number of departments, a teachers' room, a gymnasium and administrative rooms (manager's office, office, etc.), as well as specialist classrooms for teaching natural sciences and sciences, practical workrooms with material stores, a music room, a drawing room, rooms for storing collections and teaching aids, an assembly hall, a library with a reading room, sometimes even a museum.

The trend at the time was to place representative rooms in the central part of the building: auditorium, library, teachers' rooms like meeting rooms or large studios. The gymnasium, due to different height requirements, was usually planned as a separate annex or - more often - as a clearly distinguishable wing on a rectangular plan, in the rear or side of the main building. A frequent feature of the gymnasium and, in a way, the hallmark of this part of the school were high, semicircular windows, used to maximise the light inside. The additional function of the assembly hall or theatre, which was sometimes introduced, meant that the interior was sometimes equipped with a stage with accompanying rooms and a choir or gallery.

After Lviv was occupied by the Soviets, a Russian secondary school was organised in the building. The former "eight" now houses the Ukrainian Catholic University.

Adam Trojanowski's recollection

"Our gymnasium building was built in the late 1920s and early 1930s of this century [20th century], so it was less old than I was. It was located on the left-hand side of Dwernickiego Street and had a classical two-winged shape with a central part intended, among other things, for the main entrance and a magnificent refined staircase. At the back was an exemplary sports field. In the annexe to the right was the gymnasium and, in its depth, a stage on which stood the altar, mounted and brought forward for the compulsory Sunday services. The stage itself was periodically used for cultural purposes, i.e. arrangements related to public holidays, band performances, pupil recitations etc. There was also a large chemistry laboratory where Professor Turkiewicz exhibited various reactions, of which we were most interested in those involving potassium chlorate and sodium and potassium metal, stored in bottles filled with paraffin. Sometimes, to our delight, there were explosions, as was clearly evident from the stains on the ceiling.

In the middle section was Professor Halaunbrenner's residence, filled with a mass of physical instruments from all areas of this science. One instrument was even attached to the ceiling and hung all the way down to the floor. Various electrostatic machines, electric motors and an apparatus for demonstrating the measurement of bullet velocity from a firearm stood out there.

In the staircase were large plaster copies of ancient sculptures, making the staircase particularly dignified. At the entrance to the building, large stone or plaster sculptures stood on either side, these of King Casimir the Great on the right and Queen Jadwiga on the left. They were white in colour, except for King Casimir's shoe, which every student entering the school touched, which was supposed to bring good luck. Looking from the outside, from the street side, the right wing housed the practical workshops, namely for wood and metalworking and for building simpler mechanical and electrical equipment. The left wing housed the gymnasium's secretariat, the headmaster's room and a conference room on the ground floor. There were probably also some classrooms.

The entire first floor in both wings was occupied for classrooms. The middle section was occupied by the geography study, or Professor Dręgiewicz's kingdom, full of maps and charts, even gathered on a wooden superstructure. To the left, however, was the Drawing Room, in which Professor Pieniążek resided, a well-known painter before the war, who dealt with folk costumes of the Podhale region, and who was shamefully tormented by us with silly teasing. It was full of all sorts of equipment used as models for drawing.

The second floor housed mainly offices, so in the left wing was the office where Dr Stroński worked. It was full of various stuffed animals, display boards and, above all, cages and aquaria with live animals. The aquaria that stayed in my memory the most were those in which swam rather disgusting salamandi-like black axolotls with large heads. They supposedly have the property of growing back their lost legs. At least, that's what was said about them at the time" (Adam Trojanowski, Refleksja na sześćdziesięciolecie, "Cracovia Leopolis" 2000, no. 4).