Koning Willem II College is a school in Tilburg

Tilburg

Tilburg is a landlocked municipality and a city in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant.Tilburg municipality also includes the villages of Berkel-Enschot and Udenhout....

 in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. It was established in 1866 and is named after King Willem II

William II of the Netherlands

William II was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg from 7 October 1840 until his death in 1849.- Early life and education :...

. The school was founded in the former royal palace in Tilburg, the present City Hall

City Hall of Tilburg

The City hall of Tilburg or Palace-Council House is a former royal palace and part of the present city hall of the municipality Tilburg, in the Netherlands. The construction of the palace was commissioned by King William II of the Netherlands, who placed the foundation stone himself on the 13th of...

, of which the construction was commissioned by King William II himself. In 1934 the school moved from the former palace to the new location a new and much bigger building at the Ringbaan Oost in Tilburg.

The school is divided over seven buildings of varying size:

• The A-building contains the school's four gyms.
• The B-building is the school's main building. It has three floors and is one of the oldest buildings.
• The C-building has only a few classrooms and is located on the ground floor.
• The D-building like the B-building is one of the oldest buildings, but has only two floors.
• The E-building (one floor) and F-building (two floors) were not part of the original school and were built later with a more modern decoration. The main subjects taught here are the sciences biology
  Biology
  Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
  
  , chemistry
  Chemistry
  Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
  
  , and physics
  Physics
  Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
  
  .
• The G-building is the smallest of all of the buildings, and has only one big room.

The school offers vmbo

Voorbereidend middelbaar beroepsonderwijs

The vmbo education is a school track in the Netherlands. It lasts four years, from the age of twelve to sixteen. It combines vocational training with theoretical education in languages, mathematics, history, arts and sciences...

, havo

Hoger algemeen voortgezet onderwijs

The havo or hoger algemeen voortgezet onderwijs is a stream in the secondary educational system of the Netherlands. It has five grades and is generally attended from age twelve to seventeen...

 or vwo

Voorbereidend Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs

Voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs or pre-university secondary education is the highest variant in the secondary educational system of the Netherlands. After leaving elementary school students are enrolled in different types of secondary schools, according to their academic ability...

 (atheneum

Atheneum (school)

The Atheneum, named after the ancient school founded by Roman Emperor Hadrian, is the formal name of the main educational track of Dutch Voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs. It is a six-year course and successful completion allows the candidate admission to Dutch university...

 and gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

). The school is unique in offering students two alternative streams: the muzische afdeling (musical department) or a top-sport afdeling (top-sports department) for the first three years of their education, after which they may continue at the vmbo, havo or vwo.

Vincent van Gogh

In 1866, the school welcomed of its most remarkable students and certainly its most famous: Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...

. He left the school halfway during his second year, for unknown reasons. His parents still lived in Zundert

Zundert

Zundert is a municipality and a town in Noord Brabant, the Netherlands.Zundert lies about 10 metres above Dutch sea level , and is located 15 km south-west of the city of Breda, and 35 km north-east of Antwerp, Belgium...

and Vincent lived in one of the houses at the St. Annaplein in Tilburg, not far from the school. The oldest school photograph in the files of the school, a typical class photograph, is a famous photo of Van Gogh. It is said that his art teacher, Huijsmans, has had a strong influence of Gogh's early style.