BRG & BORG St. Pölten

The Bundesrealgymnasium und Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium stands in St. Pölten, the capital of Lower Austria. It occupies a protected historic building on Schulring, designed by Ferdinand Zandra and built between 1874 and 1876 as the Lower Austrian Teachers’ Training College. The three-storey, three-wing complex is set back from the street in the strict style of 19th-century Historicism. Its central section features bold neorenaissance plasterwork, while the entrance hall leads to a wide double-flight staircase. A stone plaque records the year 1875, and a 1950 Pietà honours those lost in the two world wars. The school has housed many notable figures. From 1948 to 1953 it was led by Franz Palfinger, followed by Franz Sigloch until 1972. Among its former pupils are politicians Karl Seitz and Anton Bayr, writers Wilhelm Franke and Wilhelm Szabo, painters Franz Erntl and Friedrich Küffer, and composer Johann Sengstschmid. More recent alumni include historian Ernst Langthaler and biologist Philipp M. Schlüter. Visitors approach across a broad forecourt to the main entrance. Inside, the tiled foyer with its pilastered walls opens to the grand staircase, its two flights curving symmetrically upward. The corridor walls display commemorative plaques listing former students who fell in the world wars. Beyond lie classrooms arranged around quiet internal courtyards, where the original window mouldings and cornices remain intact.