It was founded by the Austrian Empire and its Imperial Royal General Government in Dalmatia in 1817.

[1] Dalmatian Government, in fact, seceded the public part of the Archidiocesan Classical Gymnasium, founded by archbishop Stefano Cosmi in 1700.

The program after World War II was based on combining classical education, with emphasis on humanities (namely languages including Latin and Ancient Greek, and mainly English among foreign languages, philosophy, literature, history, fine art, music and theatre, mathematics, natural sciences and extracurricular activities.

[5][6] Among the professors were prominent Croatian cultural actors, among the others Natko Nodilo, Šime Ljubić, don Frane Bulić, Eugen Kumičić, Milan Rešetar, Vladimir Nazor, Milan Begović during the 19th century,[2] and then Josip Barač, Mirko Deanović, Antun Dobronić, Josip Hatze, Vjekoslav Rosenberg-Ružić, Ivo Krešić-Jurić, Petar Kurir, Žarko Muljačić.

[7] Among the graduates there were Francesco Carrara, Niccolò Tommaseo, Antonio Bajamonti, Frane Lappenna, Dujam Rendić-Miočević, Vid Morpurgo, Giovanni Maver, Jakov Gotovac, Mate Ujević, Kruno Prijatelj, Bogdan Žižić, Igor Zidić, Igor Mandić, Vinko Cuzzi, Tonko Maroević, Inoslav Bešker.