The Radu Negru National College (Colegiul Național Radu Negru) is a historic school in Făgăraș, housed in a large early 20th-century building on Strada Școlii. The present building was constructed between 1907 and 1909 and remains one of the most imposing educational buildings in the city.
The institution traces its origins to 1869, when scholar and local official Ion Codru Drăgușanu helped establish a Romanian-language central school in Făgăraș. He gave it the name Radu Negru, after the legendary ruler regarded as the founder of Wallachia. Although that first school closed after only a few years because of financial difficulties, Romanian education continued in Făgăraș and the Radu Negru name was later revived.
A new state gymnasium was established in 1898, initially operating in existing premises before a purpose-built school was constructed between 1907 and 1909. Designed in a Baroque Revival style, the new building contained dozens of classrooms and specialist rooms arranged across three main levels, with a formal entrance and monumental interior staircase. Students moved into the building for the 1909-1910 school year.
After Transylvania became part of Romania in 1918, the school was taken over by the Romanian authorities and in 1919 was formally renamed Radu Negru High School. Romanian became the language of instruction, and during the interwar period the school developed into one of the region’s leading secondary schools. During the Second World War, part of the building was used as a military hospital.
The school passed through several name and organizational changes during the communist period before regaining the Radu Negru name in 1970. In 1996 it received the status of national college, and today it continues to operate as one of Făgăraș’s principal educational institutions, with primary, middle and high school classes.
