On 18 January 1860, Alexandru Ioan Cuza founded the second gymnasium with teaching in Romanian in Bucharest and gave it the name of Gheorghe Lazăr, who "was the refounder of the nation's schools".

The construction, designed by architect F. G. Muntureanu, who studied in England, is an architectural jewel of elegant sobriety, combining several styles: from the Brâncovenesc to the neoclassical English one.

In 1931, the new wing of the high school was built at the initiative of the general assembly of parents, which allowed the development of new laboratories, the elegant amphitheatre, the semi-basement buffet.

Previously it was "Acest liceu este făcut pentru învingătorii vieţii", meaning "This high school is made for life's victors".

[7][8] The old anthem of the high school, on a text by V. I. Păun and a song by G. Brătianu, was presented for the first time during the first celebration of the patron's commemoration on 18 January 1892.