the design. The building's basement is about 60% subterranean and 40% above ground. This was common among houses, castles and palaces at the time. On top of the basement sits the piano nobile, the most important and impressive floor of the building, primarily used for receiving guests. Notable to the design are the four round towers at each of the four corners of the building. These form four independent stairwells and lead from the basement up to the piano nobile and the second floor. School Rijks-HBS By the second half of the 19th century 28,000 people lived in Tilburg. A need was felt for a HBS, a then new type of high school for secular education. It was aimed at bourgeois pupils as preparation for 'higher' positions in society, better adapted to the economic demands of a rapidly changing society than the Latin school. It was meant for middle class youth who didn't need an academic education, but required a broad general knowledge to fulfil important positions in trade and industry. Koning Willem II School Although the city council wanted to provide this new type of education to the city's inhabitants, Tilburg did not receive state financial support for a school building. As the city couldn't afford a new building, it was suggested that King William II's palace be used for the new school. The palace was still owned by the Dutch royal family. On 30 November 1863 the city council sent a letter to the secretary of the royal family, requesting the palace's use as a school building. Authorisation came in 1864 and in 1865 alterations to the building began. On 9 April 1866 the palace was opened as a school, named: Koning Willem II (King William II). One of its first students would also become its most famous alumni: Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, then 13 years old, attended classes in 1866 and left the school for unknown reasons in 1868. With an average rating of 7.36 (on a scale from 1 to 10) young Vincent was a mediocre student. His art teacher was the painter Constant Cornelis Huijsmans. Controversial beginning and the continual growth The first 25 years of the school’s existence were tough. There was a large turnover of staff and the number of students remained small. The lack of religious education caused a lot of criticism from the Roman Catholic clergy. Initially the school offered