Tableau of the Stanisław Staszic Secondary School graduates in 1913

In 1905, on the initiative of the Civil Partnership for the Secondary School in Lublin, bringing together entrepreneurs, landowners and philanthropists, the Stanisław Staszic Private Secondary School was established. It was one of the first schools in the city with Polish as the language of instruction. Its headmaster was Gracjan Chmielewski, a former insurgent of the January Uprising.

Initially, the school was located in a building at 12 Bernardyńska Street. The first graduates completed the school in 1907. It became a tradition to make commemorative tableaus with the images of the graduates of successive years. It was customary to have a bust of the school's patron on the decorative tableau, with photographs of the headmaster and representatives of the teaching staff in the central part, and portraits of the graduates all around. Sometimes pictures of the school caretakers were also added.

In 1920, when the Staszic School was already operating as a state school, several tables were composed with photographs of graduates from previous years. The 1913 graduates' tableau designed by Władysław Barwicki, a painter and decorator from Lublin, featured a tree motif whose branches were topped with several dozen photographs of former Staszic graduates. The artist also included elements referring to education – a burning torch, a spread book, a globe and a pen and inkwell. At the bottom of the tableau, in decorative frames, there are photographs showing the façade of the gymnasium and the school yard at Bernardyńska Street.

Unfortunately, the tableau lacks the usual captions with the names of pupils and teachers, making it difficult, years later, to guess who is in the photographs. From the information in one corner of the tableau, we only know that the photographs were taken at the 'Zofia' photographic studio in Lublin.