HERA project

The European Spa as a Transnational Public Space and Social Metaphor (2019-2022)

The research project The European Spa as a Transnational Public Space and Social Metaphor is part of the HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) funding initiative of the European Union devoted to the topic Public Spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe. Within this framework, the project sets out to rethink the spa as a core concept and object of European debate. It investigates how the European spa, with its characteristic institutions such as the Kurpark, sanatorium, grand hotel and casino, developed into a transnational public space and functioned as a stage for the negotiation of political, social and cultural issues of European relevance. The research team consists of five historians and literary scholars from Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands. For further information see the project website http://www.theeuropeanspa.eu

The old warm baths in the Swedish spa Ramlösa