Saint Sava National College 3.54

The Saint Sava National College is the oldest and the most prestigious high school in Romania.The College is the direct descendant of the Princely Academy of Saint Sava, which was divided in 1864 by Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza into the University of Bucharest and the present high school. During the Communist era, its name was changed to Nicolae Bălcescu High School.The name of the College comes from the Monastery of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified in Bucharest, in which it has been founded. To this day, it celebrates its birthday on the 5th of December, the feast day of Saint Sava the Sanctified.HistoryIn the 17th century Saint Sava was actually an old monastery built in Bucharest’s historic centre, in the proximity of today’s University Square. It was here in the rooms of the monastery that Romania’s first higher education institution was set up. The founding of this college in the late 17th century was brought about by a strong European influence, mostly Italian, that encouraged the rise of the national spirit. This assertion of a national awareness had the firm support of many writers and historians of the age.In Wallachia (Southern Romania) the most remarkable representative of this trend was Constantin Cantacuzino, writer and great patriot, who had been educated in Padua, Italy. He was a widely−travelled aristocrat and adviser to Prince Șerban Cantacuzino. "As Constantin Cantacuzino was determined to have a college similar to the Italian ones set up in Bucharest, his brother’s coming to power in 1678 made it possible for him to achieve his goal" (Nicolae Iorga, Romanian historian, 1871-1940).