Józef Montwiłł lt, Juozapas Montvila (9 March 1850 in Mitėniškiai (now

Kėdainiai district Kėdainiai () is one of the oldest cities in Lithuania. It is located north of Kaunas on the banks of the Nevėžis River. First mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, its population is 23,667. Its old town dates to ...

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) – 7 February 1911) was a Polish-Lithuanian social worker, bank owner and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, notable for the many social societies he founded. A descendant of a noble Lithuanian family, Montwiłł inherited a significant fortune, which he further increased through banking and investment. He financed numerous courses for the poor, among them, was a class of painting and arts, run by - among others - Józef Bałzukiewicz and

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, from which graduated a renowned Lithuanian artist

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. In 1898, Montwiłł also financed a monument to

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in Vilnius, designed by Tadeusz Stryjeński. As the tsarist authorities did not allow the monument to be placed in open space, it was built inside Saint John's Church. Montwiłł also created the ''Lutnia'' Artistic Society and financed the construction of the society's theatre, in currently Lithuanian National Drama Theatre. Among other societies, he formed and financed was the Society of Friends of Sciences, one of the founding members of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

. Montwiłł also financed the creation of a Polish school in Vilnius (1907), a city hall in

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; built already after his death, and the Polish Theatre in Vilnius (in modern times converted to ''Russian Dramatic Theatre of Lithuania''). He died in 1911, and was buried at the Rossa cemetery (Lithuanian: Rasos). His tomb, designed by

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* 1896 births 1961 deaths Polish men's fo ...

, was decorated with a sculpture of an angel. Although vandalized in recent times, the tomb remains there. In 1935, a monument to Montwiłł was erected in front of the Franciscan Church. A monument in his honour was built in the square, located in the former Franciscan cemetery in the

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Street of Vilnius. In modern times, the Polish Culture in Lithuania Fund () has adopted Montwiłł as its patron.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montwill, Jozef 1850 births 1911 deaths People from Kėdainiai District Municipality People from Vilkomirsky Uyezd Polish Roman Catholics Members of the 3rd State Duma of the Russian Empire Polish philanthropists Polish bankers Polish businesspeople Polish economists 19th-century philanthropists Saint Petersburg State University alumni Burials at Rasos Cemetery