2024 General Assembly of the Great Spa Towns of Europe

Members of the Great Spa Towns of Europe (GSTE) Association were in Bad Kissingen (Germany) this week for a series of meetings, and site visits, including their General Assembly, at the invitation of the Lord Mayor of Bad Kissingen, Dr. Dirk Vogel.

The General Assembly was held on April 18th, which is celebrated globally as the International Day for
Monuments and Sites, and also known as World Heritage Day. This year’s theme is “Disasters & Conflicts Through the Lens of the Venice Charter”, a document which is being celebrated by ICOMOS this year, sixty years since it was written. The Venice Charter says that “The intention in conserving and restoring monuments is to safeguard them no less as works of art than as historical evidence” (Article 3) while maintaining them on a “permanent basis” (Article 4). This charter has been the guiding principle at the core of ICOMOS’ history and identity since it was founded, also in 1964.

The four-day programme included a special workshop for Site Coordinators/Managers of the eleven towns of the GSTE, and their planning and urban design colleagues in the municipalities, on the theme of “World Heritage and pressures: Assessing potential impacts on our property”. This is the fifth workshop in a series of Urban Planning Workshops that started in 2022, for the officers and technicians who are responsible for protecting the outstanding value for humanity of the GSTE WHS at ground level. Special study visits and guided walks allowed delegates to experience the Regentenbau ensemble, as well as other important buildings such as the Wandelhalle and the Brunnenhalle, where mineral water tasting was a key feature. Delegates also visited the Untere Saline complex, where salt was traditionally extracted from the water, and the Obere Saline museum.

Main image: Julia Milberger; second image: Marcel Pigl