Program of the Cafe of Europe In Ourense

First session: Water and Cults in the Ancient Times

Water is synonym of spirituality in the Ancient Times, an element that connects the human and the divine. In Europe, water deities used to linked the old indigenous beliefs with the new foreigner ones, those which came with the Roman conquerors, transforming this cult and arising new meanings. All the historical baths that are spreaded across Europe are still witnesses of this transformation and therefore, its study, conservation and divulgation becomes a challenge for these cities; in order to throw some lights on the past so it could light our present.

First Part: Water Deities in Roman and Pre-Roman Hispania

Second Part: Study, Conservation and Recovery of Historic Baths

Second Session: “Bath and Pilgrimages: from the Middle Ages until today”

There are two cities in Europe that religion and history turned into pillars of the continent. Santiago de Compostela, at the western end , is the fi nal destination of several ways that since the Middle Ages spread all through European geography; and Rome, in the heart of Italy, connect with Canterbury through a huge diagonal known by their travellers as the “Via Francigena”. Thousands of pilgrims walk these roads every years, and their travels have already become a key part of our European cultural identity. Thermal cities take also part in this history of pilgrimages, as these are the place where wanderers stop to rest their body and minds, places of peace and serenity.

Third Session: “Thermalism for the 21st Century: New ways of dialogue and wellness”

It is said that spa industry is living now in the 21st Century its second Golden Era. In a global society which get quicker and more and more changeable it is true that thermal cities have known how to master the big challenges of our time in order to turn water, once again, into a central element of human life. We present here examples that set the guidelines for the new paths thermal industry must follow in the future : wellness, preventive medicine and active life, environment care and relationships, intercultural dialogue, the recovery of the past through memory and heritage...