Belvedere College S.J. (sometimes St Francis Xavier's College) is a voluntary secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school has numerous notable alumni in the arts, politics, sports, science, and business. History Belvedere owes its origins to the efforts of John Austin who opened primary and secondary schools off Fishamble Street in 1750. The Society of Jesus has been active in the area around Hardwicke Street since 1790. They founded St Francis Xavier's College in the disused Poor Clare convent on Hardwicke Street with nine students in 1832, three years after Catholic emancipation. In 1841, the Jesuits purchased Belvedere House on neighbouring Great Denmark Street, which gave the school its name. George Augustus Rochfort (1738–1814), who became the second Earl of Belvedere in 1774, built Belvedere House, whose interior decoration was carried out by Michael Stapleton, a leading stucco craftsman of his time. Belvedere was caught up in the events of the 1916 Rising, when the British military opened fire at the Jesuit residence. The Jesuits at Belvedere and the neighbouring Gardiner Street Community helped the wounded and distributed food across the locality. In February 2012 Chinese Politburo member and future paramount leader Xi Jinping visited the college as part of his visit to Ireland for a special reception in the O'Reilly theatre. An annual exchange with a Jesuit school in Hong Kong was the catalyst for this visit. School museum A school museum and archive were opened in 2002 by former teacher Oliver Murphy, dedicated to the history of the institution and its past pupils. Education Belvedere offers the Irish Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate curricula. Classics The school still offers Latin as both a Junior and Leaving Certificate subject and offers Ancient Greek as a Junior and Leaving Certificate subject when there is sufficient demand. Classical Studies is also offered at Leaving Certificate level. Science Garret A. FitzGerald, an Old Belvederian and senior faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, has instituted an annual five-week scholarship for two students who excel in Transition Year science. Facilities Belvedere has a 25m 5 lane indoor swimming pool, gym, restaurant and refectory, music suite, learning resource centre, museum, chapel and oratory, 3 hard tennis courts (Cabra Sports Ground), 1 astroturf (Distillery Road) and 5 grass rugby pitches (Cabra Sports Ground), a cricket pitch (Cabra Sports Ground), 1 grass soccer pitch (Cabra Sports Ground), 1 astro 7-a-side football pitch on top