The first building for poor students of the Kharkiv Collegium on Bursatskiy Descent was built in 1770-1773.

This building has not survived, the current building of the theological school (bursa) at Bursatskiy Descent, 4 was built in 1825.

Many young students worked part-time as teachers of noble children in the summer, since the level of general disciplines in theological schools was quite high by those standards.

There is a legend among Kharkiv guides that the patron saint of the bursa was St. Heraclius, and hungry bursaks often made “raids” on the market, stealing pies. Therefore, the vendors nicknamed them raklom, and this word of Kharkiv origin, which they began to call petty thieves and vagabonds, supposedly took root in the Ukrainian lexicon in the 19th century precisely thanks to Kharkiv.

However, there is a more prosaic version – raklo is a translation from the obsolete German Rekel “uncouth person” (Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language. – Kyiv: Nauk. Dumka, 2006)

In 1885, the building was reconstructed and added to (designed by K. Tolkunov and B. Pokrovsky), and in 1925 it was transferred to the Institute of Culture.

Currently, the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture is located in the bursa building.