Colegio Nacional de Monserrat is a public college preparatory high school in Cordoba, Argentina. Patterened after the European gymnasium, the school is the second oldest of its type and one of the most prestigious in Argentina.
History
Parochial era
The Real Colegio Convictorio de Nuestra Senora de Monserrat was founded in Cordoba on August 1, 1687, by the Society of Jesus. Its founder and first director was Father Ignacio Duarte Quiros, a Cordoba priest who volunteered and donated all his property to that effect. King Charles II of Spain signed the decree authorizing the establishment, whose implementation was entrusted to the Governor of Cordoba, Captain Tomas Félix de Argandona. The college began operations as a boarding school on April 10, 1695, and was ultimately awarded a permanent certification by King Philip V, on December 2, 1716.
The college was transferred to the Franciscan Order upon the 1767 Papal suppression of the Society of Jesus. The college was moved from the Duarte House to the current location, and its relocation was completed on February 9, 1782.
The institution was transferred in 1807 to Secular Clergy, pursuant to a Royal Decree of 1800 signed by King Charles IV of Spain by which he created the "Royal University of San Carlos and Our Lady of Montserrat." This new charter, which included what later became the National University of Cordoba, was accompanied by major curricular reforms enacted by the Rector of the University and College, Dean Gregorio Funes.
Public era
The College and the University were nationalized in 1854. The former was converted from a boarding school into a secondary school in 1858, and under the aegis of the "National School" system administered by the National Institute of Public Instruction from 1881 onward. A new building was commissioned by Dr. Eusebio de Bedoya, and completed in 1864.
The school was made an affiliate of the University in 1907. The building was adorned in 1927 with Spanish Colonial Revival doorways, windows, and fixtures during a renovation commissioned by Rector Rafael Bonet, and designed by Jaime Roca. monument to its founder, Father Ignacio Duarte Quiros, was unveiled in the central courtyard in 1937. The College of Monserrat was declared a National Historic Monument on July 14, 1938. The Monserrat College became a center of nationalist and conservative agitation in subsequent decades. The college newspaper, El Pampero was established by fascist writer Enrique Oses, and became a leading nationalist publication prior to the 1943 coup d'etat.
The institution, an all-boys school throughout its history, was made coeducational by order of the University in 1997, the school's total enrollment in 2010 included, for the first time, more girls than boys. The Jesuit Block of Crdoba, which includes the campus, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on November 28, 2000.
