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Abdurrahman Pasha High School in Kastamonu, founded in 1885 as the first state high school established in Anatolia, is marking its 141st year while continuing to teach students in its historic building and preserving part of the campus as a museum.
The school was founded on April 20, 1885, by then-Governor Abdurrahman Nurettin Pasha under the name Kastamonu Idadi Mektebi. After the proclamation of the republic, it first became Kastamonu High School and, from 1963 onward, continued under the name Abdurrahman Pasha High School, taken from its founder.
School principal Huseyin Misirlioglu said the institution dated back to the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II and stood out as the first high school opened in Anatolia. He said the school had witnessed the final four decades of the Ottoman Empire, the founding of the Republic of Türkiye and the republican era up to the present day, while providing uninterrupted education throughout.
The school now operates in two buildings, with senior students attending classes in the historic structure. Part of that building has been turned into a museum, where themed rooms focus on the National Struggle, social activities, science and figures valued by the school.
Misirlioglu said the building where visitors are welcomed today was the same one whose foundations were laid in 1885. He explained that the museum sets out the school's main stages, from Mektebi Idadi and Sultani to Kastamonu High School and its current identity as Abdurrahman Pasha High School.
He also said the museum draws visitors almost year-round, with guests coming both from Kastamonu and from other provinces.
According to him, nearly all eighth-grade students in the city tour the school on a regular basis, and administrators, teachers and students guide visitors through the site.
One of the school's defining features is that it was unable to produce graduates in 1916, 1917 and 1921 because its students left for the front during the Gallipoli campaign and the Turkish War of Independence.
That memory remains visible inside the museum. Final-year student Yagmur Can said studying at a 141-year-old school was a source of pride, adding that its corridors carried history. She said the National Struggle classroom, which reflects the period when students went off to war, was especially moving and made her feel proud of her ancestors.
Misirlioglu said the school holds larger anniversary events in years ending in zero and five, while this year it will mark its 141st anniversary with a wreath-laying ceremony and by welcoming guests.
Among recent visitors was Zeki Beyter, who said he had come from Izmir after learning about the school while researching Kastamonu online. He said he was impressed by both the city and the school, noting that while similar buildings in Erzurum and Sivas had become museums, Abdurrahman Pasha High School still preserved one part as a museum while carrying on with education in the other.
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