[1] The high school was formed by the Calvinist community in Zilah (present-day Zalău) in the first half of the 17th century.

In the 1830s, following a disagreement between the school and the church, Miklós Wesselényi took over the burden of the institution and paid the teachers wage and other fees himself.

[2] In 1848, led by their teachers, the students from the upper class joined the Hungarian Revolution, for which after the failure of the revolution the college feared of abolition by the Habsburg authorities.

The main building of the high school was built in 1903 with the support of the Wesselényi family.

At this time it was renamed from Wesselényi Reformed College to simply Liceum nr.