ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses ideals of Bildung, uses of history, and pedagogical ideas, expressed in the planning, design, and inauguration of school buildings at two secondary schools: Norwegian Eidsvoll landsgymnas and Swedish Sigtunastiftelsens Humanistiska Läroverk (SHL). Both schools were founded in the 1920s, and history was an important part of their ideological foundations. At SHL, the idea of creating a “humanistic secondary school” led to choosing Greek antiquity as an inspiration for building “An ‘Acropolis’ in Miniature”. Eidsvoll landsgymnas was a “rural gymnasium”, placed between the classical academic tradition of secondary school, and the rural and national ideals of the national movement norskdomsrørsla. The building from 1908, that Eidsvoll landsgymnas inherited from Eidsvoll Folk High School, was inspired by such national and rural ideals. The new school building, inaugurated in 1927, while classical in dimensions and including certain national elements, did not give strong connotations to antiquity or to national romanticism. Ideals in line with progressive pedagogy were, to some extent, present at both schools, most notably not only in the inauguration speeches at Eidsvoll landsgymnas but also in ideas about the arrangement of classrooms at SHL.
