The School
Anders Knape, founder and first director of the children’s home, lived during the Age of Enlightenment. Science and education were expected to improve society, and the upbringing of children was considered highly important. The teachers employed at the children’s home were ordained priests.
Lessons began at seven in the summer and eight in the winter. They opened with prayer, singing and Bible reading. Breakfast was followed by lessons until four o’clock, and sometimes later. Evening prayers were held at eight. Sunday services were sometimes held outdoors in summer. During free periods, the boys did woodwork, sawed firewood and worked in the garden.
The new fireproof building was designed by Eugen Thorburn. The school closed in 1924, and a boarding home opened in 1949. A building containing a kitchen and dining room was constructed beside the school. Thirty boys lived at the home while attending school in Uddevalla. The boarding home closed in 1976.
Today, the buildings contain offices for the Gustafsberg Foundation and other organisations.
Would you like to know more? Read on.
The teachers and the school
The period in which Knape lived has become known as the Age of Enlightenment. New and radical ideas were proclaimed by talented writers and brilliant thinkers, not least pioneering views on schools and education. Enlightenment was to be championed by looking forward rather than back to barbaric centuries. Humanity was to be educated so that the living conditions of overlooked lower social classes could be improved. The new society would be built from the ground up, beginning with children, young people and schools.
Anders Knape fully understood that the school’s ambitious programme depended primarily on a capable and qualified teacher. At first, teachers at the children’s home were ordained priests, as was customary in schools. After serving for a number of years, they received privileges such as priority for certain church appointments, including parish priest. These privileges were intended to attract able candidates. Another requirement was that teachers remain unmarried, a rule that prompted mixed opinions.
No reason was given, but Knape may have feared that family responsibilities would prevent a teacher from devoting himself fully to his calling, causing him to neglect Knape’s wards in favour of his own children. It might also have been difficult to replace a married teacher. Whatever the reason, the rule was intended to serve the school’s best interests.
Subjects taught at the school included Christianity, Swedish, foreign languages (German and English), mathematics, natural science, history, geography and penmanship. Pupils also studied gymnastics and military exercises, music and singing, and drawing. Latin was not part of the timetable; any Latin instruction required special reasons and prior approval from the board.
A school day at Gustafsberg Children’s Home, 15 November 1776
A few months after the school opened, Goteborgs Allehanda described how a school day at Gustafsberg was organised during Knape’s time. The account was probably written by a clergyman who had visited the health resort that summer:
“Lessons begin at seven in summer and eight in winter, first with prayer and song, followed by the reading and brief explanation of one chapter or half a chapter of the Bible. After breakfast, lessons continue until eleven or half past eleven, and in the afternoon from two until four or half past four. Evening prayers are held at half past seven.
On Sundays, a service is usually held in a room on the upper floor, with prayer, song and a brief explanation of the Epistle and Gospel adapted to the children’s understanding. They are then questioned on what has been said, and the service ends with prayer and song.
During the summer spa season, this service is held in the spring house on the Gustafsberg estate. Sometimes, when the weather and circumstances permit, they attend services in Uddevalla, only a quarter of a Swedish mile from Gustafsberg.
During their free time, they may amuse themselves by carving, cutting and working in wood, for which the founder has provided all kinds of tools: knives, saws and chisels. To ensure sufficient exercise, the older and stronger boys in particular saw firewood or work with their own small axe and spade in a large plot laid out as a garden, where each is assigned a piece to cultivate and plant.”
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The article comes from the National Library of Sweden’s digitised newspaper archive: https://tidningar.kb.se/