Development of Spa Towns in Greece During the First Half of the 20th Century

Melina Kostidi is a historian specialising in the social and cultural history of modern Greece during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

She holds a Bachelor's degree in History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology from the University of Thessaly, a Master's degree in Eighteenth-Century Studies from King's College London and a Master's degree in Educational Leadership, Management and Emerging Technologies from Marconi University.

She has completed her PhD thesis, "The Development of Greek Spas: Therapy, Sociability and Holidays (mid-19th century– early 20th century)", at the Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece.

Her research interests include the history of leisure and tourism and the comparative history of Greek and European spa towns.

Isabelle Brown is a heritage conservator and researcher at the regional heritage inventory service in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

Her research focuses on thermal architecture and spa resort heritage, particularly villa typologies and their relationship with urban planning in the spa towns of Auvergne.

Prof. Hans Hornyik studied Sinology and Communication Science in Vienna and Taipei.

From 2000 to 2024, he served as City Councillor in Baden bei Wien, with responsibilities for spatial planning, construction, culture and cultural heritage.

His work included developing Baden's townscape protection zone model and managing the development of the museums at the Kaiserhaus and Beethovenhaus, alongside related exhibitions and publications.

He served as UNESCO World Heritage Coordinator for the City of Baden and its delegate to the Great Spa Towns of Europe (GSTE).

He prepared the GSTE–Baden bei Wien Local Management Plan and has conducted research, delivered lectures and published on GSTE and Baden's history as a spa town.

Since January 2025, he has been a spa town heritage expert and Chair of the EHTTA Scientific Committee.

His current research focuses on the developmental history and urban structure of European spa town models from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.

Despoina Lampada is a PhD candidate in Art History at the General Art History Laboratory of the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens.

A long-term collaborator of Time Heritage, she has extensive professional experience in developing, documenting and implementing projects focused on the visualisation and digital enhancement of cultural heritage, as well as the use of digital media in historical and cultural education.

She has worked with major cultural organisations in Greece, including the Foundation of the Hellenic World, the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation and the former National Centre for Audiovisual Media and Communication (now the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Centre – Creative Greece).

She has participated in numerous EU- and nationally funded projects on heritage digitisation and digital curation, with particular emphasis on education and sustainability.

Her publications cover early Christian and Byzantine visual culture and history, heritage management and digital history.

Afroditi Kamara is a historian and cultural heritage consultant.

She holds a Bachelor's degree in History from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, a Master's degree from the University of Manchester, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford.

She specialised in the social and religious history of the Middle East in Late Antiquity.

She worked as a research historian at the Foundation of the Hellenic World and, in 2003, co-founded Time Heritage, a company promoting an interdisciplinary approach to cultural heritage management and enhancement.

Among other projects, she participated in the 2015–2018 Erasmus+ KA2 Cultour+ project, focused on entrepreneurship development along European Cultural Routes, including thermal and religious tourism.

Since then, she has developed a strong interest in thermal tourism and its cultural background and has published extensively on the subject.