During our Spring General Assembly in Vichy, France, our delegates gathered for a workshop assessing climate vulnerability across The Great Spa Towns of Europe.
As we gathered for the first General Assembly in our anniversary year – marking five years since being inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List – we also looked ahead to the future to assess how climate change might impact our World Heritage Site.
Site Managers, Mayors, members of our Inter-Governmental Committee and elected officials mapped out different hazards onto charts, considering how climate change might affect the characteristics that connect all our towns: mineral springs, spa infrastructure, spa urban ensemble, therapeutic spa landscape, spa architecture, continuing spa function and internationalism.
Anke Matthys, Site Manager of Vichy, presents during the workshop at the General Assembly. ©Ville de Vichy.
In 2025, four custodians from The Great Spa Towns of Europe joined Preserving Legacies’ Climate Custodian Cohort Programme to improve their skills and expand their scientific knowledge of fighting climate change.
Preserving Legacies is a global organisation committed to supporting heritage sites with building resilience against climate change. Their three-year Climate Adaptation Programme recruits a new cohort every year and connects heritage sites and communities across the world, sharing the aim to prevent the impacts of climate change. The organisation is supported by ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) and the National Geographic Society.
Anke Matthys, Site Manager of Vichy, was one of the four participants enrolled in the programme. Also enrolled are Chiara Ronchini, Secretary General of The Great Spa Towns of Europe, Anne Pirard, Site Manager of Spa (Belgium), and Tony Crouch, Site Manager of the City of Bath (UK).
As the Site Manager of the hosting town, Anke presented his experience of Preserving Legacies and explained the impacts visible in his town. The other Preserving Legacies custodians led group discussions at each table, alongside Alexandra Harrer, Site Manager of Baden bei Wien (Austria), who had hosted the Climate Vulnerability Index workshop in 2025.
In the spirit of cross-border collaboration that defines our World Heritage Site, our delegates worked together to consider what could be affected by climate change and how towns could build climate resilience.
Tony Crouch, Site Manager of Bath, leads a group discussion during the workshop at the General Assembly. ©Ville de Vichy.