GREAT WOMEN FROM
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The Female Section at the Teacher Seminary Uno Cygnaeus (often called the founder of Finnish-speaking elementary schools) wanted the Jyväskylä Teacher Seminary to have both male and female students. Conservative groups were against the women’s department, worried that the Teacher Seminary would become just a “marriage office”. However, Cygnaeus won the argument and the Teacher Seminary opened in 1863. Female and male students were kept well away from each other: the new buildings for men and women were built as far away from each other as possible. The women’s dormitory (nowadays building D) was built near Vaasankatu, away from the men in what is now building F. The students only came together for choral singing and for parties at the Headmaster’s home. The Teacher Sminary for women was the first opportunity for women to learn a respectable profession and to make an independent living. Especially during the early days of the Teacher Seminary it was the school of many gifted women who later became influential throughout the country. Sources: the exhibition script by Virpi Talja for the exhibitions in buildings D and H
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