Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte
RTU - The First Higher School in Latvia
RTU – the first higher school in Latvia
The foundation date of Riga Technical University is assumed to be 14 October 1862, when the first
students were enrolled at the Preparatory School (Course) of the Riga Polytechnicum (RP) – a
private educational establishment with the German language as the language of tuition. Its
development was furthered by the rapid growth of the City of Riga, growth of industry, commerce,
civil engineering, agriculture and utilities, as well as influential social groups, who understood the
necessity of developing higher technical education in Riga. At that time the territory of present-day
Latvia was part of the Russian Empire and the permission for the establishment of the higher school
was granted by the Russia State Council and, on 28 (16) May 1861, the Russian tsar Alexander II
approved the Charter of the Riga Polytechnicum. Thus, the Riga Polytechnicum was the first
multi-discipline technical higher school in the Russian Empire. Riga Polytechnicum offered higher
education in engineering, mechanics, architecture, land surveying, agriculture, chemistry and
commercial sciences. Initially (until 1917) studies available only to male students. For more than 30
years tuition was conducted in German. Not all gymnasiums at that time could provide their
students with adequate knowledge – the preparation level of the potential students of the Riga
Polytechnicum, especially at the very start, was insufficient in many cases. It was necessary to
restructure the content of secondary education. In order to bridge the gap, it was decided to
establish the Preparatory School at Riga Polytechnicum. The RP Preparatory School was closed
only in 1892, when gymnasiums were able to ensure adequate preparation of their students for
further studies in the higher school.
The Riga Polytechnicum gradually evolved. It started with the departments (faculties) of
Engineering (1863), Chemistry (1863), Agriculture (1863) and Mechanics (1864), and later the
Department of Commerce (1868) and the Department of Architecture (1869) was founded. The
Surveying Department (established in 1869) operated only for a couple of years and was closed due
to the small number of students. The Riga Polytechnicum gradually grew into a centre of research
and engineering sciences, developing according to the principle advanced by the German scientist
Wilhelm Humboldt – studies and research were closely integrated and students of Riga
Polytechnicum could obtain an education that met the needs and requirements of the particular
historical period. In 1869, a new building was erected for the needs of the higher school at Troņmantnieka Bulvāris 19 (today – Raiņa bulvāris), which greatly improved the working
conditions of the academic staff and allowed for considering the construction of more spacious
laboratory premises and the purchasing and using of various study aids, which was not always
possible to do in the premises rented before.
The higher school was basically structured following the model of higher schools of a similar
profile in Switzerland and Germany; it employed German, Swiss and Austrian scientists in the
capacity of lecturers and professors and strenghtened cooperation with European higher schools and
other institutions, hence adapting experience in engineering sciences and teaching methods used in
higher schools not only elsewhere in Europe but also in farther regions of the world. The first
director (rector) of Riga Polytechnicum was Ernst Nauck (1819–1875) – scientist and
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Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte
RTU - The First Higher School in Latvia
educationalist, contemporary of the Humboldt brothers, a respectable citizen of Prussia. He
occupied this position for 13 years. E. Nauck planned the structure of the polytechnicum, and drew
up the department programmes, recruited the academic staff and laid a firm foundation for its
operation in the future. It was during his time in the post that the higher school moved into the
building on Raiņa bulvāris 19.
Even though in terms of payment and working conditions the academic staff of Riga Polytechnicum
(RP) lagged behind other higher educational institutions in Western Europe, the polytechnicum
managed to attract several eminent scientists, such as W. Ostwald, W. Ritter, E. Hoyer, E.
Laspeyres, E. Arnold and A. Toepler.
Wilhelm Ostwald was born in 1853, in Riga, and was a professor of chemistry at RP for six years,
and in 1909, while working at Leipzig University in Germany, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry. Wilhelm Ritter was born in Zurich and for nine years administered the work of the RP
Department of Engineering in Riga. At the end of the 19th century W.Ritter returned to Zurich and
was appointed rector of Zurich Polytechnical Institute. Early in his academic career, Egbert von
Hoyer spent a several years as a lecturer at Riga Polytechnicum. From 1894 to 1900 E. Hoyer was
the rector of Munich Technical University. Etienne Laspeyres (1834–1913) participated in the
establishment of the RP Department of Commerce and taught there as well. Later Laspeyres worked
in Germany, where he became a prominent economist and gained worldwide recognition with his
price index calculation method, named after him (the Laspeyres price index). Engelbert Arnold was
an academic on the staff of Riga Polytechnicum and has left his mark in the history of electrical
machine building. At the beginning of the 20th century E. Arnold was appointed rector of the
Technical University of Karlsruhe. August Toepler was one of the first professors of chemistry at
Riga Polytechnicum. Subsequently he took the position of rector at Dresden University of
Technology for many years.
At the end of the 19th century, schools in the Russian Empire, including Riga Polytechnicum, were
subject to russification. In May 1896, the Russian tsar Nicholas II approved new regulations for the
higher school, prescribing the introduction of Russian as the language of tuition and granting Riga
Polytechnicum all rights of a state higher school. Riga Polytechnicum was renamed the Riga
Polytechnical Institute (RPI). It was administered by the director and the Council. The duration of
studies was prolonged to five years. Russian was gradually introduced and those of the academic
staff, who did not know the language, were forced to quit their work at RPI. The number of
lecturers and scientists invited from abroad declined, whereas the number of local lecturers in the
academic staff increased, and among them there were also many graduates of the institute.
At the end of the 19th century, the premises of the RPI could no longer accommodate the growing
number of students; as a result, a new three-story laboratory building was erected at Puškina 4 (now
Kronvalda bulvāris), where Department of Chemistry (1900) was moved to. Already in 1877, the
RPI expanded into the Pētermuiža estate (Pēternieki) near the township of Olaine, to use it as an
agricultural training and experimental farm. Later, in 1899, the RPI obtained the title to Pētermuiža
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Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte
RTU - The First Higher School in Latvia
and many Russian farmers gained agricultural work experience there.
The operation of Riga Polytechnical Institute was interrupted by World War I. From October 1915
to the Spring of 1918 the RPI operated in different locations rented in Moscow. By resolution of the
Soviet Russian government a part of the RPI inventory and library was handed over to the newly
established Ivanovoznesensk Polytechnical Institute. At the same time, many academics and
students wanted to study and work in Riga and when the Peace Treaty of Brest was signed in 1918,
they returned to Riga to continue studying and working at the Baltic Technical Higher School,
established by the German occupational administration on the existing base of the RPI. The
language of tuition in this higher school was German. As a result of the establishment of a new
political regime, this higher school was liquidated after only three months of operation
(01.10.1918–03.01.1919) and replaced by the Higher School of Latvia, which was established by
the Soviet government in Riga, but managed to operate only for a couple of days longer than its
predecessor (08.02.1919–22.05.1919). The language of tuition in this institution was both Latvian
and Russian. After the German Iron Division entered Riga and the Soviet regime fell, there were
attempts to restore the operation of the Baltic Technical Higher School under the name of Riga
Technical Higher School, but its operation was even more short-lived.
On 3 August 1919, the government of the newly-arisen independent Latvian state took over the
property of Riga Polytechnical Institute and established the Latvian Higher School on the basis of
RPI, and subsequently renamed it to the University of Latvia.
From 1865 to 1919 the Riga Polytechnical Institute had 4749 graduates, among them many young
people from provinces of Baltic region, students of many nationalities coming from the vast
territories of Russia, as well as many students of Polish origin. The names of many graduates,
owing to their contribution in different fields of research, are frequently referred to even today. For
instance, it is worth mentioning, that 15 future professors of Polish higher schools were graduates of
RPI, among them also I. Moscicky – the president of Poland from 1926 to 1939. A. Didebulidze, a
graduate of the Department of Mechanics, later became an academician of the Academy of Sciences
of Georgia (1944). F. Zander (a citizen of Riga) was the pioneer of rocket-building in Russia and an
enthusiast of interplanetary travel. P. Walden became a professor and director of his alma mater and
subsequently also an academician of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences and was nominated
for the Nobel Prize several times. Many prominent buildings were constructed by the architects,
who had received their education at the RPI. Many graduates built a successful professional career
in Russia, Poland, and later also in the independent state of Latvia and other countries. After the
foundation of the Republic of Latvia, its former students and academic staff were those, who
comprised the technical intelligentsia of Latvia – its brightest minds, who actively participated in
the development of the state as engineers, members of the Latvian Parliament (Saeima) and
ministers.
Only in 1958, with the demand for engineering specialists rapidly growing, the technical faculties
were separated from the University of Latvia and the Riga Polytechnical Institute was
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Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte
RTU - The First Higher School in Latvia
fundamentally restored as a separate higher educational institution. In 1990, the «ancestress» of all
Latvian higher schools changed its name again and is ever since known as Riga Technical
University.
Dr. paed. Alīda Zigmunde
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