9. Panevėžys County Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė Public Library

About

Panevėžys County Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė Public Library (henceforth Library) is a complex made up of two houses (Respublikos str. 14 and 16) and annexes. The old and the new wing are connected by a glass roof. The inner area of the building is 5000 sq. meters. Looking from the outside it can be seen that in the main feature of the façade is the classical style house in Respublikos str. 14. Built in 1920 for the Mutual Credit Union of Panevėžys, it distinguishes itself by its monumental forms and lavish décor. Originally, the two-story brick house was tricolour. Its layout takes the shape of a trapeze with the protruding avant-corps and semicircular stairway in the courtyard. Facades are decorated with coupled columns, vases and other various decorative elements. Somewhat later the building underwent a reconstruction and gained its present look. Curiously, it was the first house in Panevėžys to have some utilities. From the side of A. Kisinas street, it is connected to a new, four-story annexe.

Meanwhile, the house on the corner (Respublikos str. 16), built in the nineteenth century, is a local historical monument included in the Registry of Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Lithuania. Back in the past, the first bookshop and printing house in Panevėžys (and the region as well) owned by Naftalis Feigenzonas was located on the first floor. The printing house produced vouchers, business cards, government orders, labels for local businesses and various other prints. From 1924, “Panevėžio balsas”, the first newspaper in the city was printed here. When the reconstruction started, its goal was to preserve as many original details as possible – the décor of the facades, the metal balcony, glass doors of the portal, old windows on the second floor, filing doors etc.