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History: The original building of the Gymnasium school was opened on 12 January 1858. The school played a leading part in the struggle for the retention of the Dutch language and also in the Afrikaans Language-movement.

The old Gymnasium School is situated on the mountain side of the main street near its intersection with Lady Grey Street.
This school which formed the basis of the educational system at Paarl is inseparably associated with the name of that impressive ecclesiastic, the Rev. G. W. A. van der Lingen. He was installed as the Dutch Reformed minister of Paarl on 5th July, 1831, and served the congregation for 38 years. He regarded education as the responsibility of the church. The education of her children, he said, “belongs to the Church, not to the State.” He opposed the “public schools” of the time because they were colourless in regard to religion and because the language of instruction was exclusively English.
The fact that the Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch was founded without acceding to Mr. van der Lingen’s request that the continued use of “bet Nederduitsch” language should be guaranteed, caused some dissatisfaction in Paarl. Consequently there was a movement to start a second “Academy” in Paarl. The Rev. Mr. van der Lingen did not favour this, but steered the movement in the direction of his long-cherished ideal, a church school with Nederlands as its language’ medium. In December, 1857, De Zuid-Afrikaan announced the establishment of the new school in Paarl. The school was to provide for “the education of young people for a Theological College or for one of the Academies in Europe”
The school was officially opened on 12th January, 1858. There were three teachers: one of them was J. S. de Villiers who taught English, and another was A. v. d. Hoop whose subjects were Classical Languages, Ancient History and Mythology. The medium was Nederlands and besides these subjects the mother tongue and religious instruction were taken as a matter of course. For these reasons the government of the time iefused to make a grant to the school. The Rev. G. van der Lingen’s laconic comment on this was: “My congregation does not need to beg”
Money for the school came from two sources, the congregation of Paarl and the Rev. G. van der Lingen’s private purse. With such funds the stately old main building was erected. The Egyptian architectural style was deliberately chosen and the walls were decorated with symbolic Egyptian figures: sphinxes pour Learning into a vase, and a space for a clock surrounded by scarabs symbolise time and eternity. The motto “Sol justitiae illustra nos” is a strong reminder of the school’s connection with the old thatched cruciform church of the Paarl congregation which has the same motto on its west gable.
This school was to play an important part in the struggle to retain Dutch and in the “Eerste Afrikaanse Taal beweging” or the first movement for the recognition of the Afrikaans language. The basis of this, of course, was the Rev. G. van der Lingen’s exceptional predilection for the Dutch language and the fact that he appointed only Hollanders as teachers. One of these teachers was Arnoldus Pannevis who came to Paarl in 1866 and is sometimes called the grandfather of the Afrikaans language. His greatest contribution, however, was that he helped to form the character of the leaders of the “Eerste Taalbeweging”, including the Rev. S. J. du Toit.
The Rev, van der Lingen died in 1869, and in 1875 a second Dutch Reformed congregation, Noorder Paarl, came into existence with the Rev. S. J. du Toit as its minister. At first the services were held in the Gymnasium building, while the left wing served as a parsonage, and it was there that Professor J. D. du Toit, better known as “Totius”, was born.
In this building most of the meetings of the “Genoot skap van Regte Afrikaners” were held. It also housed the printing press of the Genootskap for a long time. The meetings of the Genootskap came to an end in 1891, but in, 1895 it was decided to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Genootskap by holding a large congress on the Afrikaans language. This congress was held under the chairmanship of the Rev. S. J. du Toit on 15th January, 1896, and it was there that it was decided to publish a journal, to be named Ons Klijntji.
The spirit of Afrikaans spread irresistibly from the halls of the Gymnasium to the universities. The first professor of Afrikaans at the University of Stellenbosch, J. J. Smith, was a product of the Gymnasium, as was E. C. Pienaar who joined him later as a colleague. Even the first professor of Afrikaans at the University College of the Orange Free State, D. F. Malherbe, was steeped in the traditions of the Regte Afrikaners.
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Construction Date: 1857
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Catalogue: Paarl, No: A15.04, Significance Category: