Festsaal - Akademisches Gymnasium

Friedrich von Schmidt, who gave Vienna its neo-Gothic City Hall, also built the school on Beethovenplatz into which the Akademisches Gymnasium moved in 1866. The institution is far older — founded by the Jesuits in 1553, the oldest secondary school in the city — and its roll includes Franz Schubert, taught in an earlier building, along with Otto Wagner, Arthur Schnitzler and Erwin Schrödinger. The ceremonial hall, with murals by Josef Matyáš Trenkwald and glass from Carl Geyling's workshop, is used for school occasions and for concerts; it is small enough that a string ensemble fills it without effort.