All posts by : EHTTA

On the occasion of the EHTTA general assembly, Clermont Métropole (France) was welcomed as an associated member.
The territory is centered on the city of Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in central France.
It is most known for its exceptional setting, with the volcanoes and in particular the Puy de Dôme.

Clermont Auvergne Métropole also represents a spa resorts’ territory, including EHTTA’s member Royat – Chamalières, and is engaged in a process of development of the thermal and cultural offer of the whole territory.  Clermont Auvergne Métropole is also applying to be European Capital for Culture in 2028.

EHTTA attended the last Training Academy on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe hosted in the Royal Monastry of Yuste and Palace of Charles V, in Cuacos de Yuste (Extremadura), Spain, from 12 to 15 June. The working session was introduced by Stefano Dominioni, Director of the European Institute of Cultural Routes, Eladio Fernandez Galiano, head of Democratic Iniziatives Department of the Council of Europe, Marianne Berger Marjanovic, President of the Governing Board of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on cultural routes.

The theme of this year was “Innovation and new trend in cultural routes: (Re)interpreting European Cultural Heritage“. The event was attended by 20 certified Cultural Routes and 15 new projects. The training seminars explored innovative emerging trends in the cultural, tourism and digital sectors and gave insights on how cultural routes of the Council of Europe could seize opportunities in these domains. Luca Bruschi, responsible for the international relations of EHTTA, presented the good practices of the European Thermal Routes with special focus on the ATLAS of Europe.

The Training Academy was hosted by the European Routes of Charles V in partnership with the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, the regional Government of Extremadura, the Provincial Government of Cáceres and the National Heritage of Spain. The event was also the opportunity to discover Yuste thanks to the rich social programme on the footsteps of Emperor Charles V. The Training Academy was organised in the framework of the  European Year of Cultural Heritage

Premier for the European Historic Thermal Towns Association: for the first time a general assembly was held in the Eastern part of the network, in Azerbaijan.

Hosted in Galaalti, EHTTA members from all over Europe met for three days from May 30 to June 1, 2018 for the association’s spring general assembly.
The opening ceremony and the cultural parallel meetings scheduled in the three days have been attended by the Minister of Culture, Mr. Abulfas Garayev.

“We appreciate the very warm welcome by our friends from Azerbaijan and are very thankful for the outstanding hospitality in Galaalti”, said EHTTA president Mr. Giuseppe Bellandi on the occasion of the meeting. He stressed the importance of transnational co-operations and projects, explaining that Italy and Azerbaijan joined in 2011 the The Council of Europe Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes (the EPA), which was established in 2010. “It ensures the implementation of this cultural programme, which has lead us so far today”.

Representatives from other territories and organizations from Azerbaijan joined the event, seeking exchange of information and experience with representatives from historic thermal towns from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Greece and Turkey.

On the occasion of the general assembly EHTTA managing the European Route of Historic Thermal Towns welcomed Clermont Métropole (France) as new associated member. There are now 44 members from 15 countries belonging to the association, which also launched its new website on www.historicthermaltowns.eu and introduced it to its members and the public during the Azerbaijan meeting.

The delegates from the European historic thermal towns joined study visits to the UNESCO old quarter of Baku, Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape Reserve (UNESCO World Heritage Site).  An amazing experience in touch with the rich heritage of Azerbaijan.

On the occasion of its Spring General Assembly 2018 the European Route of Historic Thermal Towns managed by the European Historic Thermal Towns Association (EHTTA)
has launched its new website on www.historicthermaltowns.eu.

Optimized with responsive design and therefore adaptive to all mobile devices the route’s image has an attractive new layout: impressive pictures show their precious heritage of its 41 members as do the related descriptions of them. Useful information concerning tourism, the scientific work and public relations activities are presented.

Therefore our network consisting of historic thermal towns and regions from 15 countries has been growing and is now facing the next steps of public relations and tourism marketing as a cultural route certified by the European Commission. The new website is part of our communications strategy, which we have introduced last year. This is the first major step to have a better visibility and platform to answer for example the needs of potential guests seeking for the experience of thermal culture and to respond to the tourism industry interested in specific themes for travel planning.

Easy to access now and better to be found are the tourist packages, the different member towns and regions are offering and that can be booked through the tourist offices or spas. There is a wide range of packages in the categories “Pure spa experience”, “Ancient Spa Traditions”, “Gastro Experience”, “Special Events”, “Out & About”, “Keep it discovering”.
A new section on the route’s website is “Festivents”: an impressive list shows and describes the cultural events and festivals, many of them with long traditions and linked closely to the history of the thermal towns. Each member has the opportunity to list its top ten events throughout the year and fill the route’s rich event calendar.

At the same time EHTTA invites potential new members to get in touch with the association, now offering an online questionnaire and therefore supporting the scientific work, which includes the evaluation of candidates as well as the project “the atlas”.

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Europa Nostra UK, in association with the City of Bath World Heritage Site and the European Historic Thermal Towns Association (EHTTA), is holding its 2017 meeting in Bath from 13th until 15th September. The European Historic Thermal Towns Association (EHTTA), certified by the Council of Europe, is for the first time an official partner of the event.

This year’s Duncan-Sandys Lecture will be given by the distinguished Oxford archaeologist, Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe.

The theme of this day-conference is unsurprisingly the European Historic Spa Towns for which the organisers have assembled an array of distinguished and internationally celebrated speakers, including EHTTA Scientific Comittee’s president, Mr. Paul Simons.

Bath, a member of EHTTA, is known for its ensemble of Georgian buildings, including the fine Assembly Rooms, and for its Roman Baths, the venue of the main Conference Dinner. A walk around town and an outing through the English countryside to see the delightful small City of Wells, with its famed Cathedral, will allow to participants to gain a context for our activities. The organisers have also made arrangements for participants to have the opportunity to enjoy the facilities of the Thermae Bath Spa.

Acknowledging the influence of European spa culture beyond its continental boundaries, the European Route of Historic Thermal Towns of the Council of Europe has make a step forward on its international relations by welcoming the entrance of the Brazilian town of Poços de Caldas as new member

The European Association of Historic Thermal Towns participated in the meeting of the Alliance on 27 April in BOZAR, Brussels. The event brought together members of this international platform in order to explore new paths of cooperation between organizations towards the celebrations of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018.

The program included an exchange of views with the European Commission’s Head of the EYCH 2018 task force, Catherine Magnant, as well as a session for the preparation of the Voices of Culture meeting.

On the same day, the European Parliament adopted the Decision establishing 2018 as the European Year of Cultural Heritage by a large majority, securing an specific budget for cultural projects that will become part of the celebrations. Now the Council shall adopt the text, a decission which is expected to be taken in May.

The EHTTA became a member of The European Heritage Alliance 3.3 in March 2017 following its belief about thermal culture being a core part of European heritage. The Alliance is an informal European sectoral platform composed of more than 40 European or international networks and organisations active in the wider field of cultural heritage.Launched in 2011 on ocassion of the European Heritage Congress organised by Europa Nostra in Amsterdam, bringing together Europe’s civil society organisations, historic cities and villages, museums, heritage professionals and volunteers, etc.

The coordination of the European Heritage Alliance 3.3 is part of Europa Nostra’s network project Mainstreaming Heritage funded by Creative Europe.

+ info about the EYCH2018

+ info about The European Heritage Alliance

The European Route of HIstoric Thermal Towns is one of over 30 Routes certified by the Council of Europe, all based ion themes whic are central to the cultural heritage of Europe.  The Cultural Route Programme  was launched by the Council of Europe in 1987 with the Route of Santiago de Compostela, and now, in 2017, it is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

On the ocassion of this important date, the EHHTA would like to share the inspiring interview with Stefano Dominioni, Director of the European Institute of Cultural Routes, published on the website Best Cultural Destinations. A vivid narration of the Cultural Routes Programme of the Council of Europe, a journey tohrough space and time to understand Europe’s shared and living cultural heritage:

Over the past 30 years, the notion of cultural heritage has evolved. Once thought of simply as a particular architectural or monumental object which needed to be preserved for future generations, the term now means an appreciation of a broader cultural and territorial heritage context imbued with its immateriality. This evolution has fostered a deeper understanding of the value of a culture and a place, and the meaning its inhabitants attach to its heritage, in both its tangible and intangible manifestations, spanning from churches to local traditions, and from architecture to landscapes.

Continue reading the full interview in BCD website: https://bestculturaldestinations.com

On February 29th a delegation of the European European Historical Thermal Towns Association attended the 7th HTI Conference in Rovinj, Croatia. This meeting point for the health tourism industry, the largest event of this kind in Central and Southeast Europe, welcomed EHTTA representatives in order to showcase the best practices and projects of the network, introducing the European Thermal Route of the Council of Europe to a large professional public.

EHTTA had a busy agenda for this 3 days conference. On the 1st March, Luca Bruschi, in charge of EHTTA international relations, showed off network’s good practices at a dedicated forum, which also included the presentation of the Thermal Atlas, an ongoing project to catalogue European thermal resources from an interdisciplinary approach that has already been developed in some of EHTTA members towns. The project aims to preserve and raise public awareness about abandoned thermal heritage, in the scope of the European Year of Cultural Heritage to celebrate in 2018. Along with the EHTT Forum, the Association was represented as well in the panel “Thermal Spas and rehabilitation centres are going big!”, where President Giuseppe BELLANDI participated as a speaker, introducing EHTTA involvement and goals on thermalism and health tourism.

European Health Industry (EHTI) Summit

During the 7th HTI Conference, the Croatian Chamber of Economy organized the European Health Tourism Industry Summit – a closed 120 min session that brought together leaders from European and international institutions, associations and industry. EHTTA was represented by Marcel MEDAK, Medical Director of Daruvar Spa – EHTTA member- at this meeting, which aimed to discuss common challenges and opportunities in creating a joint platform to boost Europe as tourism destination. The outcome document agreed by Summit participants gathers relevant topics and conclusion on the subject, and will be submitted to MEPs and other relevant European institutions to underscore the importance of health tourism in this strategy.

The European Association of Historic Thermal Towns (EHTTA) will attend for the second time the HTI (Health Tourism Industry) conference that will take place in the beautiful city of Rovinj, Croatia, between February 28th and March 2nd. More than 30 European spa destinations will be represented by EHTTA at this prestigious event, one the largest meeting for the spa industry in Central and Southern Europe: an excellent opportunity to showcase their unique historic and cultural heritage, along with their healing mineral-water springs.

On March, 1st EHTTA will hold a dedicated session in the framework of the HTI conference, introducing this network, which runs the Council of Europe’s Cultural Route of Historic Thermal Spa Towns, as its latest projects for the promotion and safeguarding of European thermalism. The forum will be conducted by LUCA BRUSCHI, International relationships and Communitarian policies at EHTTA, and MARCEL MEDAK, Director ar Daruvar Thermal Spa and President of the Health Tourism Clouster of Croatia. EHTTA Scientific Committee Vice-president MARIO CRECENTE will present the Thermal Atlas of Europe, an exciting project to map and document all the spa towns and thermal resources across Europe. The Mayor of Krapinske Toplica (Croatia), ERNEST SVAŽIĆ will also take part in this session.

During the 3-days event, the EHTTA wil have an exhibition stand at the hotel Lone in Rovinj, so visitors can establish further contact with the association.

The EHTTA was created in 2009 in Brussels, and soon after, in 2010 was designated responsible for the European Route of Historic Thermal Towns of the Council of Europe. It features some of the most important spa cities across the continent, including Daruvar (Croatia) Spa (Belgium), Budapest (Hungary), Vichy and Evian (France), Montecatini and Acqui Terme (Italy), Baden-Baden (Germany), Bursa (Turkey) or and Loutra Pozar (Greece), a few among its 38 members in 13 European countries. The aims of this European network are to obtain recognition for the innovative and cultural qualities of European spa towns at the European Union level, in order to develop a new plan for the tourist sector by encouraging cross-border tourism. EHTTA also encourages the economic development of spa towns and the safeguarding of their cultural and built heritage through exchanges of experience and good practices at European level.

Don’t miss the opportunity to meet our association at the HTI conference – Register here: