The Boarding Schools

The Moravian Church sets 2 goals for its schooling: to provide a religious education and to impart knowledge. The boys' school started in the "Brothers' Houses", but by 1788 it was able to move into its own premises- the present day Christiansfeld School. The girls' school started in the "First House" before moving to its own school building in 1784.
It was not solely children from the congregation who attended these schools; the schools quickly gained a reputation for high academic standards and a caring attitude towards the children, prompting parents from far away to send their children to Christiansfeld. The high fees charged for staying at the schools meant, however, that people with ordinary incomes found it difficult to send their children to the school. This was reflected in the type of pupil who attended; mainly they were children of high-ranking government officials, landowners, priests, as well as traders and industrialists.
Pupils came from a wide catchment area, which extended worldwide if one includes the children that came from the Moravians' far-reaching missionary enterprises.
After 1864 the number of pupils declined, and the two schools were carried on as one from 1891. Today the building of the former girl's school is home for the town's library and the Council's music school.
In 1920, after the reunification of Denmark, the boys' school was reorganised into a middle school and a business academy, remaining under the auspices of the Moravian Church for the first two years before becoming private. In 1969 the Council took over the school, which remains as one of the Council's two schools today.

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