In 1858, the Ministry of National Education started working on statutes that would allow establishing girls' secondary schools in the Russian Empire.
[3] As a result of these developments, Vladimir Nazimov [ru], the Vilna Governor-General, started working on establishing girls' schools in the Governorate-General.
The Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria agreed to finance schools in Vilnius, Kaunas, and Grodno and provide each with 3,000 Russian rubles.
Despite some concessions (e.g. girls had twice the number of weekly Polish lessons than boys and their governess was a Roman Catholic and not Eastern Orthodox), the school in Vilnius had only 89 students in 1860 and 58 in 1862.
[7] Due to disappointing number of students, the Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria wanted to reorganize the gymnasiums into three-year schools.
[8] After the Uprising of 1863, new Governor-General Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky decided to reorganize girls' gymnasiums along the same principles as boys' schools and eliminated Polish language as a subject from the curriculum.
[9] Due to Russification efforts and unlike elsewhere in the empire, parents and general public could not participate in shaping the curriculum, selecting teachers, or otherwise influencing the academics.
[14] The number of students grew necessitating separation of classes into two groups and rejection of applicants even if they successfully passed entrance exams.
[17] In 1903, the school moved to the newly constructed dedicated building opposite of Lukiškės Square (present-day Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre on Gediminas Avenue).
[23] Electives (such as French, German, Latin, drawing, pedagogics) allowed students to develop skill for the limited professional aspirations available to women at the time as teachers, nurses, or artists.