[1] The school was named in honor of Nicholas Alexandrovich, Tsesarevich of Russia.
The school building was constructed in 1883–1885 by architect Paul Max Bertschy.
For example, in 1884, out of 398 pupils, 161 were Evangelical Lutherans (41.2%), 130 Jews (33.3%), 76 Catholics (19.4%) and 22 Eastern Orthodoxs (5.6%).
[1] The school continued to function until its evacuation to Petrograd during World War I (1915).
School principals were:[1] Many prominent Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, and German people studied at the gymnasium, including:[1]