Department of Theatre of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre

The teaching of dramatic arts at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre has been continuously pursued since 1957, when the Theatre Department was established to train dramatic actors, with Voldemar Panso appointed as its head. The “Panso school,” also known as “lavakas,” was at that time located in Toompea, in a building that historically belonged to the Tallinn Cathedral School. The two-storey baroque stone schoolhouse with a high hipped roof, completed in 1691 after the Toompea fire, has been fully used by the Department of Drama since 1992. In 2004–2005, the building underwent a major renovation, during which two new halls were opened, a singing class was built in the attic, a new auditorium in the wing, and a spacious library-computer room and student lounge on the second floor. Despite renovations carried out over the centuries, the building has preserved a significant number of architectural details from the 17th to 19th centuries.