Juozas Miltinis. Teatras kaip ugnies žemė

ENJuozas Miltinis' Heritage Study Center is one of the departments of Panevėžys County Gabriele Petkevicaite-Bite Public Library. It was founded in an authentic flat of the Director Juozas Miltinis (1907-1994). Juozas Miltinis is a legendary director, who founded a theater in Panevėžys and worked there for 40 years. In the years of his youth Juozas Miltinis studied in Paris (1933-1936), in a Theater Studio of Charles Dullin, together with Jean Vilar, Jean Louis Barrault, Roger Blin, Jean Daste. Thoughts and ideas, matured at that time, he realized later on the stage of Panevėžys Drama Theater (in a period of 1940-1980). In 1993 Juozas Miltinis his private collection of art works, manuscripts and his personal library bequested to Panevėžys County Gabriele Petkevicaite-Bite Public Library. In 1996 Panevėžys County Gabriele Petkevicaite-Bite Public Library founded Juozas Miltinis' Heritage Study Center in his flat. In the Center all the bequest of Juozas Miltinis is stored: 3467 books, 19046 manuscripts, 35 art works, 109 CDs with the records of rehearsals, video library, photographs, personal belongings. There is also stored the archive of Panevėžys Drama Theater, which was collected by the theater chronicler Kazimieras Vitkus: photographs of 31000 performances of Panevėžys Drama Theater, movies, theater tours, pictures from actors’ life and their work, 2584 slides, 45 theater plays, books with the texts of publications about theater of the period from 1940 to 1995, diaries of actors' busyness, their personal belongings. This is a unique documentary and historical material. The written and visual information of these documents is used for work and studies by theatrologists, young people studying stage art and scenography, theater historians, actors, exhibitors and publishers.In 2006 Juozas Miltinis' book fund was included into Lithuanian National Register "Memory of the World" of the UNESCO program and is a nationally aknowledged collection. In this fund there are documents, related to events of cultural and social life of Panevėžys, Lithuania and Europe. Juozas Miltinis collected these documents all his life. In order to preserve this cultural heritage, a digital database of Juozas Miltinis Heritage Study Center was developed: the digitized fund of Juozas Miltinis and the archive of Kazimieras Vitkus about Panevėžys Drama Theater were transmitted and presented in virtual space.There is a permanent exposition "Life of Juozas Miltinis and the theatre" established in the exhibition hall of Juozas Miltinis' Heritage Study Center. There are art and document exhibitions organized here. They reveal the context of Juozas Miltinis' generation, the cultural environment of art people. There are also chamber evenings and conferences organized in the Center. Juozas Miltinis' Heritage Study Center performs publishing activities as well. There are also tours, cultural programs and events organized in Juozas Miltinis' Heritage Study Center. Cultural projects and educational activities are developed, co-operating with schools and gymnasiums.