The public institution Thomas Mann Cultural Centre was established in 1995 in order to initiate cultural cooperation between the countries of the Baltic region, to discuss issues relevant to Lithuanian society. The founders of the centre were three state institutions: the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, Neringa Municipality and Klaipėda University.
The Thomas Mann Cultural Center was established not only to analyse the creative legacy of the writer Thomas Mann and his family members, to support the promotion of Thomas Mann’s works, but also to spread humanistic ideas in Lithuania and the Baltic region, to promote and strengthen Baltic cultural and creative contacts. The multifaceted activities of the Thomas Mann Cultural Center are distinguished for European way of thinking, because taking care for Thomas Mann’s creative legacy in Lithuania means recognising the importance of pan-European traditions in Lithuania, as well as taking responsibility for the Europe’s cultural heritage.
Over the course of 25 years, the Thomas Mann Cultural Center has hosted numerous conferences, workshops and discussions to analyse the works of the writer Thomas Mann, organised international exhibitions, screened feature films based on Thomas Mann’s novels. The Thomas Mann Museum and Cultural Center is very popular with the Lithuanian and foreign tourists, it has been housing the International Thomas Mann Festival, organising other events, lectures on Thomas Mann’s work, exhibitions reflecting on the moments of the writer’s life and his creative legacy. Every year, for 24 years now, we have been organising the International Thomas Mann festival, which covers a diverse programme of music, literature, art and cinema, where one day is always exclusively dedicated to the writer Thomas Mann.
The events that are taking place in the former summer house of Thomas Mann have been always very popular with the public. It is an important proof of the significance of this region in terms of its historic and cultural heritage, where cultural connections of various nations have intertwined over the centuries, and the most outstanding symbol of these connections, undeniably, is the writer and humanist Thomas Mann. Nowadays, the Thomas Mann Cultural Center is an organisation for cultural cooperation that promotes the ideas of good neighbourhood, democracy and humanism, embodying openness to the world.
Partners: Goethe‘s Institute in Vilnius, Polish Institute in Vilnius, Klaipeda University, Academia Baltica (Germany), Vilnius Art Academy Nida Art Colony, Borussia Cultural Society in Olsztyn (Poland), etc.