Ry Højskole (Ry College)
Intro
Ry College, with headmaster Helge Hostrup in the lead, received its first students in 1892, 21 years after the opening of the railway.
From the start, the college’s history has been closely linked to the history of the station town. Helge Hostrup had a seat on the first board of directors of Ry Artisan and Citizen Association from 1895, and Ry College forms a natural part of the urban environment that emerges in the station town from around 1900 onwards. The college buildings reflect indeed the architectural fashions of the time.
The so-called Øvelsessal (Rehearsal Room) or ”Forsamlingshuset” (Village Hall) is the school’s oldest building. It was built as a village hall as early as 1883, but the citizens of Ry gave it to the college when it started.
The original main building from 1892 still constitutes a central part of the college and in 1900 the tower was added – characteristic for college buildings at that time. The wing with the lecture hall was built in 1916.
In the 1940s, the college purchased a row of houses facing Klostervej and the station. Closest to the main building lies Bakkehus, which has been both a school for artisans as well as a technical school. Near the Bakkehus is located the former College House which was originally a private school. Last in the row of houses belonging to the college is found”Brugsen” (the Supermarket) which from 1898 was Strunge’s stationers and bookshop, and also housed the town’s first library. From 1915, the co-operative society TRYG was located here, and later was replaced by the administrative offices of Ry Municipality.
In 1967, the college built two student residences in the park down towards the lake Møllesø, named respectively ”Underhuset” (the House of Commons) and ”Overhuset” (the House of Lords).
The newest buildings in this colleage area include a dining hall behind the houses facing Klostervej, as well as the distinctive, heptagonal auditorium stretching from Klostervej down to the lake Rye Møllesø.