Romanian High School of Bitola
| Romanian High School of Bitola Liceul român/românesc din Bitolia | |
|---|---|
The building of the Romanian High School of Bitola | |
| Location | |
Bitola, Ottoman Empire (now North Macedonia; 1880–1912) Grevena, Greece (1924–1943) Thessaloniki, Greece (1943–1945) | |
| Information | |
| Other name | Romanian High School of Grevena (Liceul român or românesc din Grebena) |
| Type | Secondary school (lyceum, 1880–1912 and 1932–1945; gymnasium, 1924–1932) |
| Established | June 1880 (Bitola) 1924 (Grevena) |
| Closed | 23 October 1912 (Bitola) 1945 (Grevena) |
| Teaching staff | 14 (late 1897) 9 (1935) |
| Grades | 1–7 (Bitola) 1–5 (Grevena) |
| Gender | Boys (Bitola) Mixed (Grevena) |
| Number of students | 154 (as of school year 1898/1899) 149 (1943/1944) |
| Publication | Lumina (1903–1908; Bitola) Lumina (1936–1940; Grevena) |
The Romanian High School of Bitola (Romanian: Liceul român or românesc din Bitolia; Aromanian: Litseul românescu di Bituli) was a boarding high school for boys in the Ottoman city of Bitola (Aromanian: Bituli or Bitule; Romanian: Bitolia; now in North Macedonia). Funded by Romania, it was one of the many Romanian schools opened for the Aromanians, a scattered Romance-speaking Balkan ethnic group. Bitola was at the time the most important cultural center for the Aromanians, with the city also having Romanian primary schools and a vocational school for girls, churches, a cemetery, a Romanian consulate and a library for them.
The Romanian High School of Bitola was founded in 1880, and its operation was financed virtually in full by the Romanian state. The high school provided boarding accommodation, meals and medical assistance for its students, who were Aromanians from all over the Balkans. The subjects taught were almost the same as those taught in high schools in Romania, and the high school had a clear orientation towards humanities, with many of its students becoming schoolteachers in particular. The high school became a gathering point for intellectuals who published multiple Aromanian magazines and newspapers, with the high school's own magazine Lumina standing out for its importance.
The high school played an important role in the efforts for the national awakening of the Aromanians, and a new generation of intellectuals was developed in it, with many notable Aromanian figures having been students or teachers at the high school. The high school was closed by the newly-arrived Serbian authorities in 1912. It is reported by some sources to have been moved to the Romanian high school in Grevena (Aromanian: Grebini; Romanian: Grebena), Greece, which opened in 1924 and suffered multiple problems during its functioning until its closure in 1945. The building of the former Romanian high school still exists in modern Bitola; as of 2013, it was used as a Macedonian primary school.