School of Zurel


The School of Zurel was a Pontic language village school of the local Eastern Orthodox Christian community in the village of Zurel in the Of district of Trabzon Province, which was later used in the Republic era as a Turkish middle school.

Description

The school building was a three-storey stone structure. It was financed by contributions from the villagers and was regarded within the Of region as the largest and most modern school building of its time.

History

At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, a school of the local Pontic-speaking community is recorded for Zurel. Between about 1900 and 1914, the school underwent a phase of modernization, with new curricula and teaching methods being introduced. Later, in the Republican period, the building was used as a Turkish middle school.