For quite a few years, Kaštonų Street has undoubtedly been one of the filmmakers’ favorite locations in Vilnius. This is where the Lithuanian Library of Medicine, the country’s largest library of biomedicine and related sciences, is located. “Agent Hamilton”, “Young Wallander”, “The Generation of Evil”, “Kompromat”, and “Hilma” are just a few films and series that were shot here.
The Lithuanian Library of Medicine was founded in 1941. Its original fund consisted of personal book collections donated by doctors; unfortunately, most of them were looted or destroyed during the Second World War. Today, over 500,000 documents are stored here. The library collects and provides medical information, participates in the implementation of state health programs, and preserves the written heritage of Lithuanian medical science.
When it serves as a film background, Kaštonų Street is often turned into Swedish cities, such as Stockholm and Malmö of various periods; it has also “played” the post-war Berlin. Most recently, during the shooting of the Lithuanian-Norwegian co-production “Agent Number 24,” the library’s edifice became Oslo’s parliament building, near which a bomb exploded.
According to Aivaras Šidla, the film location manager who has worked in this location several times, the street and the library have a unique architecture. There are a few streets like this in Vilnius.
“In films, the library often becomes a courtroom or another institutional building of the 1940–1990 period. Since the library itself has not been heavily renovated, it contains well-preserved authentic architectural details, which is what fascinates directors, cinematographers, and film artists the most,” says Šidla.
