View of the Knights' Academy in Legnica by C.M. Trappa shows the layout created around a rectangular courtyard by four three-story wings. The building is presented from the south-east. The façade with the entrance gate is crowned with a symmetrically placed tympanum with four figures in the attic. The illustration, however, did not reflect the actual state of affairs. The west wing then consisted of two separate parts, which Trapp did not take into account. It probably used the design of Antoni Erhard Martinelli, which assumed the demolition of the riding school building and closing the courtyard into a regular rectangle. The Trapp mansard roof, planned by the Viennese architect, was replaced with a gable roof. The name of the school Akademia Regia Josephina Equestris Lignicensis (Józefińska Royal Academy of Knights in Legnica) comes from the name of Emperor Józef I Habsburg, who on March 19, 1708 proclaimed its creation. The new Silesian university was intended only for noble youth. It was to prepare the alumni to perform state offices and command functions in the army. Political changes and reforms in the education system have transformed its character. In the early nineteenth century, admission to the academy was granted to young people of middle-class origin, and the school functioned as a gymnasium until World War II.
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