Members of The Great Spa Towns of Europe (GSTE) Association will meet in Mariánské Lázně, Czech Republic, for a series of meetings and site visits, including their General Assembly from 8th – 9th May 2025 at the invitation of the Mayor.
This meeting precedes the official opening of Spa Season 2025 from Friday 9th May – Sunday 11th May. The opening of the spa season has a long-standing tradition in Mariánské Lázně. The weekend celebrations include the blessing of the springs, a ceremonial parade, a concert by the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra, a mass and a rich accompanying programme of festivities.
The voices of the next generation will be brought forward through the INTERSPACE project (Inter-Spa Town Celebration of European Heritage) and its new Youth Forum. A representative group of young people will present their ideas for the future and their perspectives on policymaking to the Mayors of The GSTE and States Parties Representatives at the General Assembly.
Expert discussion on the future of spa heritage, its protection and sustainable development will take place during the Heritage Forum. Panel talks and discussions from experts in the fields of heritage conservation, urbanism and tourism will cover today’s pressing topics in heritage; ‘Youth Participation at the Policy Table: Potentials & Limits’, followed by ‘Tools for Effective Monitoring of Heritage Conservation Status’ and, finally, ‘Transitional Trends in Architecture and Urbanism‘.
Delegates will also visit the newly-restored Singing Fountain, the WWII Fallen Memorial and take part in a ‘Planting Trees for Peace’ ceremony. The Singing Fountain has been one of the iconic sights of Mariánské Lázně since it opened in 1986 with its spectacular displays of gushing waters, sprouting in careful choreography to classical and modern music. An icon and a pioneer of light water shows in Europe, the Singing Fountain will open the spa season again with a dramatic show, featuring compositions only played on special occasions.
The INTERSPACE project, funded by the European Union through the CERV Town Twinning Programme, gathers young people from across The GSTE to engage them with World Heritage and their shared spa culture through activities, tours and workshops. In the spirit of co-design, it gave the reins to the young people to shape a Youth Forum. This recognises that the next generation are the current residents and future custodians of our WHSs. Bringing young citizens into decision-making about the management of the towns they live in not only recognises the value of their ideas, but ensures fairness and sparks their enthusiasm for protecting irreplaceable cultural traditions.
Their trip to Mariánské Lázně is a return twinning trip following the successful three-day educational programme in Baden bei Wien in November 2024, which ran alongside The GSTE’s autumn General Assembly. Meanwhile, online workshops have been running throughout the year to maintain the project, facilitated by Czech-based interdisciplinary practice Socionaut. The young citizens work in a manner that exemplifies European cooperation, in the same way spa culture has connected nations in the past.