By King’s Office Correspondents
KARLOVCI, SERBIA – Liphovela LaZuma, accompanied by Serbian First Lady Tamara Vucic yesterday visited an ancient school, Karlovci Gymnasium, which was founded in 1791.
This type of school is comparable to United States college preparatory schools or English grammar schools.
Liphovela was accompanied by Inkhosatana Princess Sikhanyiso, Princess Gcebile, Emazinyane Tiyandza, Tebukhosi and Sakhizwe and the rest of the entourage.
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She was received by the school’s Principal Branko Stojkov and was led on a guided tour of the school by Hana Iskrin who later handed her to Librarian Milica Rat who took Liphovela and the First Lady around the library stocked with ancient books.
The school’s total enrolment is 600 pupils.
It is said that the school’s first organizer and teacher was Maksim Suvorov, a Russian scholar and educator, sent by Empress Catherine I of Russia in 1725 to open the Latin Gymnasium (Latinska Škola) a year later in Karlovci.
Karlovci Gymnasium yesterday.
Liphovela was told about the founder who due to the efforts of Metropolitan Mojsije Petrović of Karlovci wrote a telling letter to the Tsar (ruler):
“I don’t ask for material amenities, but spiritual. I don’t ask for money but for help enlightening the souls living amongst us. Be a second Moses for us and lead us from the ignorance of Egypt!”
The High School of Karlovci began its operations on 1 November 1791 and had six classes, four lower ( “Grammar”), and two higher (humanities).
Also, there were two boarding schools in the complex, one for students whose families had means of support and the other for those of limited means.
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The Gymnasium of Karlovci provides two departments: classical languages and modern languages.
The classical language department concentrates on the study of Ancient Greek, while the modern language department offers English, Russian, German, Japanese, Chinese, Norwegian, Spanish and Italian.
Classes in Latin and English are mandatory for both departments throughout the four-year study.
Liphovela and the First Lady Vucic visited one of the ancient Orthodox churches, the Serbian Patriarchate of Sremski Karlovci, that existed between 1848 and 1920.
It was formed when the Metropolitanate of Karlovci was elevated to the rank of patriarchate.
After her visit to the school, the First Lady hosted Liphovela LaZuma to a working lunch, where they engaged on a number of issues of interest to both countries.
