Liegnitz Ritter-Akademie

The Liegnitz Ritter-Akademie or knight academy was a school for the sons of the silesian aristocracy and landed gentry established in early 18th century, shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Altranstädt (1707).

It operated as a school until 1945 and then After World War II, in 1945–1992, the building served as one of the main Soviet quarters in people's Poland, specifically for the Northern Group of Forces.

He left in his will of 1646 substantial means for the establishment a school for noble Protestant boys from Silesia, placed under the administration of the Liegnitz Johanniskirche through the Johannisstiftung.

After the death of his great-nephew George William I of Liegnitz (born 1660, duke 1672–1675), the last governing Piast, his territory was taken over by the Habsburgs as part of the Counter-Reformation which forced Catholicism on the people of Silesia.

The main building of the Ritter-Akademie was built in the years 1726–1738 in the baroque style to the design of the architect Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.