Romanian health resorts need people (I) - How I discovered Băile Govora

Irina Leca

 

Back when I was a kid in the ‘90s, my parents used to send me on holidays with my grandparents for a couple of weeks during the summer. For them, it was that time of the year when they went “to the baths”, so I travelled to all sorts of historical health resorts in Romania, where they met other grandparents, and I met other children. Their holiday involved all sorts of medical appointments and procedures throughout the day, while my friends and I roamed the parks and alleys, exploring this narrow little landscape that revolved entirely around healthcare and elderly people. I was around 10 when I went go with them to Olănești, Tușnad or Slănic Moldova, while my friends, cousins or schoolmates went to other places: Băile Herculane, Borsec, Amara, Călimănești, Băile Govora and so on. There was this entire universe where our families went “to the baths” that created common memories for all of us: the taste of canteen food, the stinky weird water we had to drink “because it was good for us”, the smell of clean air that we only got to recognize when we arrived from our big cities, the atmosphere in the communist hotels where we stayed, and the old buildings that looked so mysterious and beautiful. Little did we know that it was all beginning to crumble, and that what we were experiencing were the final years of a system torn by privatizations, restitutions and corruption. 

 

The main hall of the Baths Pavilion in Băile Govora

Fast forward to the present, the Romanian state has acknowledged several times that these historic resorts need to become relevant again. The long restitution trials have affected the overall atmosphere, leaving many buildings in a poor state of conservation, with owners, professionals and authorities looking for ideas and resources to restore them. But the restoration of old buildings is just a small piece of what spa resorts actually need: dedicated communities (local, regional and national) that work together with policy makers and authorities to come up with ideas for these towns, and actually carry them through. Spa resorts in Romania need a strategy to help them develop independently from state subsidies and state funded tourism. In the last decades, Romania has seen a spectacular rise in heritage-led grass-roots initiatives, with NGOs working with local authorities and owners to save industrial heritage, churches, villages or country estates, often stepping in to fill the state’s shoes when it comes to researching, protecting and funding. In recent years, historic resorts have become just as appealing, with a young new generation of professionals focusing on finding a future for several spa towns. Vatra Dornei, Băile Herculane, Slănic Moldova, and Băile Govora are just some of the places where young interdisciplinary teams develop and test ideas that have one common goal - to use local heritage as a driver for sustainable development. 

 

Then and now - the Baths Pavilion in the 1960s and 2020

I had the chance to work at Băile Govora during the summer of 2020 on a heritage project. Let me paint a picture of the place. Imagine a small town (somewhere around 2.000 inhabitants), where everyone knows each other, where you don’t really see people on the streets off season, where there are no leisure opportunities - apart from walking around and enjoying the really clean air. Young people are leaving, there are few job opportunities, lots of abandoned historic buildings (more than 50 in the city center), and everyone you meet is nostalgic about the past. Up to the late ‘90s, Govora was bustling with tourists (over 6.000 at a time during peak season, and it was always peak season, from April till September). The town had its own ambulance and emergency service, dozens of hotels and villas, and lots of facilities for the many young families that worked there. Hearing the local stories, I understood the other side of what I did not see while on vacation as a child - these were actual places where people lived and worked throughout the year. I know, some resorts are actually cities, and people live there, and this shouldn’t be a revelation when you’re all grown up. These settlements are more than groups of beautiful pieces of architecture and craftsmanship, they provide jobs, social connections, purpose. Having this in mind helped me balance my enthusiasm as an art historian and be more open to what people had to say about their little town. 

 

Plan of the historical center in Baile Govora. The buildings in red are abandoned.

Last year, I had a chance encounter with two young architects that had dedicated their studies and architecture diplomas to reviving Băile Govora. Radu and Ștefania were looking for someone who knew more about project writing and management in order to help them implement their ideas locally. I had visited the place a couple of years before and had my own ideas about what should be done. Luckily, our ideas matched and we started working together shortly after. Looking back now, we’ve managed to help local authorities contract emergency conservation works for one endangered landmark, restored a historical gazebo, raised 4.000 euros through a crowdfunding campaign, organized dozens of guided tours for locals and tourists, managed to light up the resort with the help of our artist friends, and spent hundreds of hours talking to locals. In the following posts, I’ll talk about what worked and what didn’t in terms of community engagement and participation. 

 

People gather in front of the Baths Pavilion during the guided tour

Volunteers help restore the historic gazebo

 

To be continued ...