The Former Teachers' Seminary

This building, with its distinctive architecture and known locally as “Little Malbork,” was constructed between 1902 and 1903. It served as the seat of a teachers’ seminary bearing the proud name of the Royal Teachers’ Seminary. It was the largest of the teacher training colleges established at that time, which were located in cities such as Bydgoszcz, Grudziądz, Wągrowiec, and Nakło. During World War II, in 1944, it briefly served as a hospital supporting the main military hospital. Because fierce fighting took place nearby in February 1945 over the fortifications of the Pomeranian Wall, the building sustained severe damage. Traces of the damage are still visible on the walls today, while other damage was repaired as late as 1950. School classes had already resumed earlier—the building once again became a place for training teachers; specifically, it first housed the State Seminary for Preschool Teachers, later the State High School for Kindergarten Teachers, which successively transformed into the Pedagogical High School for Kindergarten Teachers, then into the College of Preschool Education and Teaching, the Teachers’ College, and finally into the Teachers’ Colleges Complex, which operated until 2014. This building also housed a preschool, which served as a practicum site for future preschool teachers, and later General Secondary School No. 2, the State Higher Vocational School, and a teaching center of the University of Szczecin.

The main building is an eclectic structure with a predominance of Neo-Gothic elements. It is a large, irregularly shaped structure, composed of several sections of varying heights, each covered by separate multi-pitched roofs. The exterior walls are predominantly constructed of solid ceramic brick laid in a cross-bond pattern; the foundations and part of the main risalit are made of natural stone. The window jambs and lintels have been plastered with lime mortar. The building is laid out on an “E”-shaped plan, with a distinctly wider central projection, to which a bay housing the staircase has been added on the north side. The three-story side risalits are complemented by towers topped with eight-sided pyramidal roofs. The facade of the main body is irregular and asymmetrical, with multiple planes, and the window and door openings feature a variety of shapes. There are rectangular windows topped with segmental arches; particularly noteworthy are the tall, pointed-arch window recesses with tracery divisions, as well as wide windows with basket-handle tops.  In the upper part of the gable, a wide blind window is visible, with a clock face below it. The entire building has a basement, and it is worth noting that part of the basement is two stories high. The interior of the building, accessible during the school year, delights visitors with its beautiful cross-ribbed vaults on transverse ribs, with ribs extending from the keystone into the column capitals and onto wall corbels. It is also worth noting the small, freestanding building in the school courtyard, originally built as a utility room, featuring an interesting corner arcade.