Paarl Gimnasium
Paarl Gimnasium is a high school in Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa.
Rev. van Lingen founded the school in the centre of town in 1858. The school has produced some of South Africa's top rugby players, including Schalk Burger, Jean De Villiers, Marius Joubert, Handré Pollard and De Wet Barry. Other alumni include the theologian Stephanus Jacobus du Toit and politician Liezl van der Merwe.
The primary school section of Gimnasium was founded in 1858 as a Dutch Christian school for boys, with the high school being founded much later. In the mid-1930s the school's language of education shifted to Afrikaans. After the high school section was completed the school enrolled its first female student.
Paarl Gimnasium High School has a large sporting program and takes part in the interschools tournament against Paarl Boys' High School, an event which attracts tens of thousands of spectators every year.
